Expiration dates of canned goods.

[jerrymrc]

Many ask about this topic. There is some data on canned goods but it is still a MFG recommendation and always, always, errs on the worst storage conditions.

Heat is the enemy of any stored food. Some do not like it at all. Take a look at the MREinfo site and you will see what I mean.

So where do we fit into this issue? Tonight I was making some split pea soup because I happen to like it and it is dirt cheap to make. I like to have ham in it so I remembered I had some cans of DAK that was put up years ago when it was on sale at $1.99 per can.

I looked and grabbed one and the can was not bulged or looked odd. I opened it up and used it in the soup. I tasted it as it came out of the can and it was fine.

After I tossed it into the soup I thought about how old it was. It expired in 2008. It had been stored down in the room I keep all my foods in that runs between 50-70 degrees. During the couple of hot months we have the room can get to 70 but in the winter it runs 50 so if I had to guess it averages 60 or less.

I have talked about this before but not too long ago there were no expiration dates on canned goods. The judge of a canned good was weather it was bulged/damaged or smelled bad when you opened it.

I understand that many are used to having absolutes. As one person put it years ago when his wife started to toss a bunch of stuff because it was the month after the "expiration" date. "Do you think there is a switch that tells the food to go bad this month?"

Most company's will tell you 12-18 months after the date. It is always a CYA thing. High acidic foods are the quickest to go. Tomatoes and anything that has a large amount in it always needs looked at once you get 12 months past the date. Do inspect these products on a regular basis because if it starts to go it will go quick.

Having a can explode in your pantry is no fun and it does happen. Rotate your stock. I am working on something that will help with this in the future but I am not there yet. Of course being in this forum assumes that you have a large stock of canned goods. Buy cheap and stack em deep.

This has been a PSA from your friendly S&P mod.

[ChadAmberg]

Also a lot of products have a "Sell by" date, which isn't the same as a "Use by".

And something like 99% of medicines (with the exception of a few antibiotics) are good 20+ years after they "expire." Chalk it up to companies wanting you to throw out an old bottle of aspirin and buy new combined with the government laws screwing you for the same reason.

But... the thing about tomatoes makes me think it's time to make a big ol' batch of chili tonight.

[KevDen2005]

I'm getting hungry...

I think I will check out the recipe thread

[StagLefty]

Cleaned out the camper earlier this summer and found a can of beans that had been in there for 13 years. Needless to say it had been through some extreme temps. Decided to give it a try out of curiousity. It wasn't terribly bad but not your regular flavored can of beans. I was surprised that I didn't have any bad effects that night but I survived.
If the can had bulged or been rusted I wouldn't have tried this but I just had to tempt the canned food gods.

[Prometheus]

Yeah you didnt have any bad effects, but how did your wife sleep.

[mcantar18c]

I have a can of some kind of fancy tomato soup in the back of my pantry stamped 2006 or 2008 or something. Kind of tempted to open it up now...

[StagLefty]

Yeah you didnt have any bad effects, but how did your wife sleep.

Have to ask her current husband

[Colorado_Outback]

My mom is the volunteer organizer for her company, they do a lot of work for Care and Share food bank here in Springs.

The general rule they use is 5yrs after the exp date for any non acidic cans, 1yr after the date for acidic cans.

Anything leaking/rusty or bulged in any way gos in the trash.

[Sawin]

My mom is the volunteer organizer for her company, they do a lot of work for Care and Share food bank here in Springs.

The general rule they use is 5yrs after the exp date for any non acidic cans, 1yr after the date for acidic cans.

Anything leaking/rusty or bulged in any way gos in the trash.

Thanks for the insightful tip. I'm curious however if one should consider fruits like peaches or pears to be "acidic". I figure the several cans of mandarin oranges that I have are acidic, and of course tomatoes, but what else is there that you or she considers acidic enough to toss at 1 year?

[Wulf202]

Part of the reason is the food is still edible but the nutritional content degrades over time so the accuracy of the label is not correct after the ~12 months which is why they say that.

I've eaten canned corn that was 10 years past it's expiration date (grandma was depression era and going into senility). It tasted more like the can than corn... No ill effects.