Even though Easter has been over for a couple of weeks, you may still be secretly snacking on delectable holiday remnants. And some of you may also be feeling the post-holiday food blues. Are you wondering if one too many chocolate bunnies are behind that nasty tummy ache?  Afraid those sugar-coated marshmallow chicks have completely rotted out your teeth?

Here’s some news for you: leftover Easter candy isn’t the only thing that can make you sick this time of year. Those pretty bright eggs have the potential to be a major menace if they’re hidden behind throw pillows instead of stored in a refrigerator. That’s right, improper egg handling and storage is a leading cause of Salmonella. While it may be difficult to resist the temptation to chow down on old jelly beans, there are things you can do to make sure all those Easter dishes, especially the ones NOT made out of candy, don’t make you sick.

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released results from a 2008 Health and Diet survey indicating that a majority of consumers do, in fact, read food labels because they are beginning to get a better understanding the role proper nutrition plays in lowering the risk of chronic diseases. According to the survey, more consumers “often read labels to determine the amount of calories, salts, vitamins or fat contained in the food products they are buying.” Choosing healthy, safe food is always music to our ears!

But the labels on food packaging can tell us more than just the nutritional content. There is another teensy little label that has a pretty big impact on food safety, especially when it comes to meat and poultry products – the expiration date.

One might think the meaning of an expiration label is self-explanatory, but this is not always the case. Actually, expiration labels are often called “dating labels” – but don’t confuse these with dinner and a movie dates. These labels are used to indicate how long your food should stay fresh.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), by reading so-called dating labels, we can learn more than the date that the meat goes bad. For example, if you own a grocery store, these labels help you and your employees determine how long to keep products like meat, eggs and cheese available for sale. And before adding a gallon of milk to their carts, shoppers can look to dating labels to see how long the milk will taste its best.

But while these labels are helpful when you’re trying to determine how long you should keep a porterhouse, it’s really important to remember these dates don’t guarantee the food is safe.