Valentine's Candy? It's Illegal in MA if It Contains This

Valentine's Day is in the rearview mirror and in the words of Bill Belichick, we're on to St. Patrick's Day.

However, you might still have some candy hanging around in the house leftover from the big day. Or maybe you're one of those Massachusetts residents who love to take advantage of the day after holiday sale prices, so your candy cabinet is all stocked up.

Either way, if you live in Massachusetts and you have any kind of candy in your house, leftover from Valentine's or not, you should check the ingredients because if it contains a certain level of alcohol, it's considered illegal.

Now I know what you might be thinking, candy and alcohol? Why would candy contain alcohol, but it's actually more common than you think, especially around the holidays. Small chocolates that contain booze, like the ones seen below, are a popular gift among adults.

Chocolates that contain alcohol are sold almost everywhere in the United States but in Massachusetts, it's illegal to sell any candy that contains more than 1% alcohol according to mass.gov. In fact, the law states that "whoever sells to a person any candy enclosing or containing liquid or syrup having more than one percent of alcohol shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars."

The thought process behind the state regulations is pretty obvious, it's to keep adult products out of children's hands. Candy is often tempting to children (just like grown-ups) and the probability of them consuming alcohol by accident is pretty high.