How Old is My Karo Syrup and is it Safe to Use?

The winter holiday season is when I gear up in baking mode and turn out dozens of cookies, candies, and other holiday baked goods. Since I only do this once a year, the back of my pantry is filled with spices and sugars that I know are several years old.

Sugars are fine to use as long as they are in a sealed container. However, when it comes to Karo corn syrup, how old is old?

Where to find the expiration date

The past several years, the ACH Food company (makers of Karo syrup) prints a "best by" date on the bottom the the year. If the container does not have a "best by" date on the base, it at least should have a production date stamped in black ink on the lid.

This coding is really pretty simple to figure out since it's based on a julian calendar. The dusty and unopened container of Karo light corn syrup I recently found in my pantry (to use as an example) is stamped 266D5.

266 refers to the 266th day of the year, or September 23.
D refers to the D plant where the Karo syrup was bottled.
5 refers to, yep, you guessed it, 2005.

For help in decoding the Julian calendar, visit vpcalendar.net to view a complete day of the year calendar so you won't have to tick off the days on your fingers.

So when does Karo syrup expire?

According to an e-mail I just received from Denise at Consumer Affairs at ACH Food, Inc. "Karo can be used as long as it is tightly capped and nothing foreign has gotten into your bottle." Denise also noted in her e-mail that if there is neither a "best by" date stamped on the bottom or a julian code on the cap, then the product could be older than 5 years.

Since my jar has never been opened, I had no reservation about using vintage Karo to make a batch of caramel corn, not should you. The ACH Food Company customer service department can be reached at 1-866-430-KARO.