Food Flavours Expiry Date

We are Manufacturing Hard boiled sugar candies. We are having some Food Flavours, which are kept in a Controlled Temp room and not open the seal of the drums. How these flavours are effecting on our final product after expiry date mentioned by supplier, how much time can we use after expiry date mentioned by the supplier. Udaya Kumar

This is a question to ask your supplier. They'll be able to explain the basis for the shelf life, potentially help with shelf life extension, and provide guidance on what factors to look for if you're forced to assess these yourselves for potential extension.

A lot of flavours use ethanol or propylene glycol as carriers, so they're not particularly susceptible to microbiological growth. Typically the shelf life is limited by the rate at which volatile components are lost and/or change in the product, so if they still give the correct flavour and aroma in the finished product then they're probably still ok. This is a generalisation though, so you should check with your supplier for the specific materials you have in stock ;)

As a flavor manufacturer, I can tell you that we give our customers a "Best By" date rather than an "Expiry" date.  We allow customers to extend that best by date through organoleptic testing.

However, as pHruit mentioned, you need to ask YOUR supplier about using products past the expiry date.