The Dairy milk as a product is extremely good. We are being bombarded by the media about the famous brands which could not have happened in previous days.
I have stores where we sell Cadbury products. Dairy Milk shelf life is low compared to other chocolate products as it contains more milk extracts. Normally the distributor checks the dates of the stocks regularly and replaces the old ones. It is a routine in any branded food products whether it is bread, cake, chocolate. It is not the Cadbury, every other manufacturer is having such an arrangement.
Normally we check whether the pack is very soft than normal. Even my daughter can immediately point out if she tried to eat one the change in taste, colour. It need not be proved by a lab. The problem arises if the retailer resists to change or replace the product which he should not do and would not do. The distributor without asking second question replaces the suspected product in our stores.
What we have seen in the newspapers is a particular batch supplied to a specific location which was immediately called back. Normally we keep the latest stock at back and older ones at front so that the first one goes out first. We dont place orders of low shelf life products in bulk too.
We regularly check the deliveries and manufacturing dates. But some stores where some uneducated handle the deliveries and stores the things happen that they dont follow proper procedures. Especially pawn shops and sometimes even biggest of stores by improper management may cause these instances. Normally these products require cool dry places. It need not be a refrigerator.
We avoid them displaying in shopping windows where direct sunlight or heat can spoil the product. In instances where we have to display the product the keep the empty cartons in shopping window.
The manufacturing involves many processes and even the best of the processes fail sometimes. What catches up the public eye is if one batch of a product fail the whole brand cannot be blamed.