AI'm making cupcakes for my son's birthday party this Saturday and wanted to try IndyDeb's Crisco frosting. I decided to buy hi-ratio shortening to use in place of the Crisco at a cake supply store near my job a few days ago, along with the rest of the supplies I needed.
Well, I made one batch of the frosting (which it turned out great!) and was looking to see if the label had any storage/shelf life instructions, since I won't be using all of the 3 lb. tub, and noticed a July 2013 date. It is so tiny I never noticed it when I made my purchase.
Under the UPC label it says "BB Date: July 2013." Am I wrong to assume that it's a "best by" or "best before" date? Should I return it to the store?
The frosting looks and tasted fine but now I don't know if it's safe to ingest.
If it's hard to obtain and a long drive to the store, it might make more sense this time to call the factory and make sure the stuff is ok and then possibly keep it refrigerated until you need it again. I wonder how it freezes? If it's simple to return, then that's another story.
AI would definitely return it. It is true that it has a long shelf life, but the makers of it know that and the best before date reflects it. So, how old must this stuff be?! No store should be selling expired product anyway.
AHi,
Thank you all for your replies.
Well, I returned the shortening today. I initially went in wanting to exchange it for another one but they were ALL expired. Same July 2013 BB date!
I didn't think that could be since it's one of the main cake supply stores in NYC. Now I know not to take that for granted.
Yes a big store but sometimes you have to point it out to them because some stores go blind when they want to get rid of old stuff. I shop at a high end store here and as good as there stuff are I watch them close too because they would have ex stuff there too say something to them maybe they will bring the new shorting they have at the store room 
The company has to pick a number to use for the date. They know all sorts of stuff can happen to their product like stores keeping it in a 110 degree un-airconditioned building, for example. It develops a bad taste and smell when it goes bad. If it had gone rancid, it would just taste bad, not give you food poisoning.
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