Hello there!
My aunt just gave me an unopened box of her chocolate fudge Dr. Sears’ Zone™ Nutrition Bars. She's had them for a while- discovered she didn't like the flavor after having bulk ordered.

The "Best Before" date on the box is "May 30 09." (5 months ago...)
Does this mean I should just throw the whole box away? (Probably.)



I guess my question is... what exactly is the "Best before" date? Is it like an expiration date- once that date goes by, throw away the food?
... or does it just mean they may not taste as good, but still hold the same nutritional zone-friendly block value?

Sounds like a good question for Zone Labs. You can post the question on the LIVE ZONE CHAT in the upper right corner, and I think you will get your answer there. BTW, please let us know, maybe there are others in the same boat!

For some dairy products I woudn't use them past the expiration date (it is the same date as best before, as I understand). For instance milk. However, if some yoghurt or cheese are past their best before date but unopened I recon you can use them even over 1 week later. If it is meat - I won;t use it as it gets green etc. If this is pre-packed "processed" food which is designed to keep for months anyway - I would open one and try - if tasted bad, throw it away, if not I'd eat it.

I might be cynical - but I think that the best before date (or expiration date) are there so shops and manufacturers protect themselves from legal action in case customer claimed that they did not realise that they should not eat it and felt discomfort.

Yes, I think you might be right, it is probably a "shelf-removal" date. But, as we are all just guessing, I hope you can get the answer from the chat.

Thank you!

There were no representatives when I tried the Live chat earlier, so I left a message and came back to this response in my e-mail:

"I have been with Dr. Sears’ company for a little over 7 years and eat Zone bars almost daily. That being said, I have eaten bars that are past their ‘best buy’ date. In short, you will most likely not want to eat bars that are several months past that date- they get quite hard and do not taste anywhere near as good as they do when they are fresh. As far as nutritional value, I don’t think the protein and carbohydrate quality would have degraded but fats, being significantly less shelf-stable, probably have begun to turn (oxidize).



I honestly would not choose to eat them."