Expiration date questions...

[Jester]

Okay, I know that expiration dates on food are not an exact science. And I don't mess around with them with stuff like milk and cheese and what not. But I've been cleaning my kitchen, and have come upon some....well, some older food. And I am wondering how much creedence I should give to the dates on them.

In particular, a box of cereal, unopened, still sealed, with a date of October 2009.

Also, a can of tuna fish with a date of February 2009. Also some canned pineapple with dates of a few months ago.

So, should I automatically pitch these? Or should I be fine, since they are sealed/canned?

Anyone know anything about this? Anyone with experience in the industry?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Cereal will most likely be stale, at the worst.

Canned goods... If they aren't bulging or anything they're probably OK.

Also, what does it actually say? Is it a "sell by" date, a "use by" date? Dates on packaged goods usually predict the quality of the item, rather than the safety. (Unopened products that are properly sealed aren't generally as much a safety concern as fresh items like milk and meats.)

Some good info over at WebMD.

Canned goods. Highly acidic foods like tomato sauce can keep 18 months or more. Low-acid foods like canned green beans are probably risk-free for up to five years. "You do not want to put cans in a hot place like a crawl space or garage," Peggy VanLaanen, EdD, RD, a professor of food and nutrition at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, tells WebMD. She suggests keeping canned and dry food at 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in a dry, dark place. Humidity can be a factor in speeded-up deterioration. The FDA notes that taste, aroma, and appearance of food can change rapidly if the air conditioning fails in a home or warehouse. Obviously, cans bulging with bacteria growth should be discarded, no matter what the expiration date!

[Heksubah]

Saw this thread too late but I thought I'd offer something they had on the intranet at work.

www.stilltasty.com

It is a website for shelf life information.

Here's the pineapples, for example. http://stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/18006

[wolfie]

One other test - when you "bite down" with the can opener, listen for air rushing in and watch to see if the lid pops up when the seal is broken. If that doesn't happen, assume that the decomposition/bacteria that cause bulging have taken up the vacuum but haven't generated positive pressure yet, and throw it out.

[crazylegs]

I've eaten some canned goods that are older than me.

Admitadly they were UK armed forces ration packs but still...

The cereal will in all likelyhood be stale and soggy, but I doubt it'll kill you.

The tuna I would toss.

The pineapple - shouldn't be too bad.

[Dreamstalker]

I had some store-brand Rice Krispies where the box had a "best by" date of Oct 2009...they tasted fine. I've eaten perfectly good cereal that had a best-by date of nearly a year prior...then again the reason it was perfectly good was probably all the sugar and assorted junk *_*

We've found that canned clam chowder (uncondensed) can go "bad" after only a few months past the date...it wasn't spoiled, just tasted terrible. Interestingly, I find that organic milk can be kept longer past the sell-by date than regular (record is about a month in the fridge and it was still good).

[Kittish]

Check the cans for dents as well as rust spots. Dents in cans can cause microscopic pinholes that allow the food to be contaminated. Beyond that, I'm in the look/listen/smell school my own self. If the can is in good shape, and you get that inrush of air when you make the first puncture with a can opener and the contents look and smell ok once you get the top off, I'd say it's most likely safe to eat. I've eaten canned goods that were YEARS past their expiration dates and had no problems at all.