Madam, - Clearly preservatives are getting more powerful and longevity testing is getting more accurate. On a bag of walnuts we just bought for the Xmas palaver, we read "Best before 3 September 2255". The only other alternative, that manufacturers no longer give a fiddler's what they write on their packaging, is of course a thoroughly contemptible suspicion. - Yours, etc.,
R.D. BANTON, Kevin Street, Tinahely, Co.Wicklow.