Consensus on expiration dates?

[God's Country]

I never look at the dates on cans. Pay attention to tomato products as they are apt to eat the seal over time, but other than that it's mostly meaningless except for rotation.

[bigandy1966]

there was a river boat from the Civil Ware era that sank in the Mississippi river full of canned rations for the troops. It sank to the bottom in silt and the drought a few years ago uncovered it. They found the river mud had kept a good amount of the cans from rusting, some of the labels were even readable for the contents. Scientists opened the cans and looked for bad bugs like botulism, found none. The reports were there was minor nutritional, flavor and consistancy degradation, but still edible.

[aubie515]

Gobermint requires an expiration date on food...I've eaten canned foods that were over 5years past expiration date. Food can degrade just like meds, but they will still provide you with calories and nutrients.

[gghbi]

Another one who agrees MOST 'expiration' dates are 'best by'/quality or government mandated dates and are not relevant to the nutritional value or safety of the food involved. Canned goods in particular are good a long time as long as they are not corroded, leaking, or swollen. Dry goods like pasta and cereals can be invaded by grain moth larva which are little worms and can be found by inspection. Streaker posted earlier that freezing pasta for three days kills the eggs on these.

If it is a survival or even economic situation, putting up with a past prime flavor issue is a small price to pay, and even that takes quite a while in most food.

Your eyes and nose will be your best indicator if something is unsafe to eat. If it looks and/or smells bad, don't eat it!!

[Emptymag]

I noticed that almost every single product, whether soup, canned chicken, tuna, or stir fry veggies I picked up in the last few days had a date in 2021 or 2022 on the can.
That's absurd.

[buxbandit]

There's a few YouTube channels where guys eat MRE's from all over the world and some of them pre date WWII. I've only seen a handful of them but no one's ever gotten sick and most of the meals are liked.

Doubtful, MREs weren't around in WWII. C rats maybe?

[PAMedic=F|A=]

Canned goods have a best by date. Not an Expiration date.

After the date they may change color. May change texture. They are perfectly safe to eat as long as all the other normal rules for canned goods (even one made today) are followed. IE. No swelling.


High acid foods canned in metal are an exception. Eventually the acid will eat through the can. High acid foods are best stores in glass.

After An extended period of time Vitamin and mineral content well go down. The canned food still provides a valuable source of calories. It is strongly recommended that you prepare multivitamin. Canned food has been tested from universities that is decades and hundreds of years old and found to be perfectly safe. The canning process sterilizes food and removes oxygen keeps out like that there is absolutely nothing that can cause spoiling.

The above is equally true for home care and produce with the added warning that you should store your home canned goods in a location where they are not exposed to light as light increase his vitamin and mineral break down

[PAMedic=F|A=]

Another way to store dry goods is in mylar or another air proof container such Large mason jar’s with an oxygen absorbers that will prevent the growth of any annoying insects.

Mylar and oxygen absorbers is the preferred way for long-term storage of dried goods freeze dried goods and as well as practiced by all reputable long-term food storage company. It has an advantage in that it is easy to do in your own home

[Walleye Hunter]

No swell, no smell, good to go.

I second this, check it out before diving in full fork. I've eaten canned foods, barbecue sauce etc that was a couple of years out.

[Walleye Hunter]

Doubtful, MREs weren't around in WWII. C rats maybe?

I thought C'rats were more like Korean or Nam era.