Mouldy chocolates given as gift - would you contact the maker to tell them?

[BoobsOnTheMoon]

We were given a lovely looking box of handmade truffles by a very kind elderly relative. They have come from a very small independent maker local to said relative, who posted them to us last week.

DP just bit into one and it was green with mould all the way through (pic attached, absolutely definitely mould!)

They have no best before date and no ingredients list, but they're a Christmas themed box (mini Christmas pudding shapes etc) so I feel like they should have lasted at least until Christmas! The maker has a FB page and a very basic website but tbh I'm concerned that they're not sticking to food safety rules already with the lack of labelling, so who knows what they're doing food hygiene wise...

Would you bother contacting the maker to show them the mould and suggest they check their making process or adding best before dates? I really don't want to tell the relative who sent them as they will feel terrible and embarrassed about it and it's hardly their fault!

Yes, I would contact them.

So would I. It can’t be good for business and you might not be the only ones.

Yes you should contact the maker.

Could they have been a gift from last year now regifted to you?
Would explain it

Yes if you do contact the maker I wouldn’t go in all guns blazing. Given you didn’t purchase them yourself, you don’t know the full story and it could be your relative has had them sitting around for a while Etc

Contact the seller because they might have put a BBE label on and ingredients sticker which the relative peeled off. Otherwise they’re contravening H&S laws?

I would assume that the elderly relative was given them last year and has regifted them to you, or been regifted old chocolates herself and passed to you. Have you checked the website to see if the boxes or designs are current?

I expect you've been give a very old box of chocolates that's been in someone's cupboard for a few years.

I agree with those who've said that it's far more likely that your relative has regifted it than a small local company is contravening food safety and failing to include a BB date.

Apologies - I just realised you meant that the maker had posted them directly to you. I would absolutely complain in that case directly to the maker without telling the relative.

If there’s no use by/best before date then it’s possibly not going by any rules and regulations.
Any packaged perishable goods must have dates on.
If this is the case then contacting the manufacturer is likely pointless as it doesn’t look like they care.

Has the relative changed the box?
Have you been given an unwanted present from last year?
I’d be tempted to get to the bottom of how new they are and consider contacting the local food safety team.

Yes, must be a regift?

this is why I don’t eat other people’s home Ads stuff 🤮

I did wonder that but I checked their FB page and the selection/decorations is exactly the same as they've done for this year so I assume they're this year's ones? Maybe I need to scroll all the way back to last December to check!

There was just a handwritten card inside the box with a list of flavours, nothing else. No signs of stickers being peeled off the outside.

Before you contact them are you sure they weren't a regift?

Oh yuck 🤢 I'd definitely contact the seller.

I'm confused. Did the maker post to you directly? If so then yes absolutely contact them.

Eww.

I’m afraid I’d assume the relative regifted too.

However, if there is no BBE and no ingredients list then they should be doing that as a food business so I’d contact them on that basis anyway as there’s 2 issues - the mould and the lack of appropriate food labelling.

Right I've just scrolled back and back, and it turns out that the maker only set up in April this year so they can't have been regifted. This is their first Christmas making chocolates - I'm certain of this as there's actually a post from November saying so and how excited they are about it with a poll asking about flavours.

Now I know for sure that it's not a regift, I feel like I'll have to say something! Maybe they're just inexperienced, people do make mistakes after all when they're new in business.

I did wonder that but I checked their FB page and the selection/decorations is exactly the same as they've done for this year so I assume they're this year's ones? Maybe I need to scroll all the way back to last December to check!

Small chocolatiers won't be updating their chocolate or packaging designs the way big companies do. Once they've worked out their recipes/moulds/designs for Christmas, they're likely to go back to them year on year, so I don't think this will give you any clues as to whether it's this year's or last year's stock.

Actually, I'd go to environmental health, the food safety team. Not so much because of the mould (horrible though it is) but because if they're pre packed for direct sale, they're breaching Natasha's law not listing the ingredients and therefore the allergens. And this could be fatal for someone.

If someone makes their own food to sell, like those chocolates, are there hygiene rules that have to be followed? I’d be concerned that this isn’t happening.

Ah, now that does put it in a whole new light!

Sorry if I wasn't clear about the postage, I mean that the relative posted them to us last week. Well I'm not sure when exactly they posted them but they arrived last week!

I'd definitely follow up with either the maker or environmental health. You'd think they seller would want to know that something has gone wrong especially on their first Christmas

Exactly what I would do. An inspection should either reassure that everything is up to standard and if it isn’t they’ll be given directions on how to improve their practices so they comply.