I always thought that canned goods were good forever, or at least for a good long time. For some reason, we ended up with an ungodly amount of cans of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. I told my SO once that I liked it, so every time he went to the store he’d pick up more cans of the stuff. Then my taste for it dropped. He is sick right now, so tonight I made him some Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.
Some of the cans had expiration dates on them. May 2002, which is passed. I made him some with the date of June, 2004 instead, but what is with the expiration date? He says they’re probably still good, he believes the “canned food is good for a long time” thing.
What is the dope on this? I’m afraid to open them and would rather throw them out, but my throat feels scratchy and I’m afraid I’m sick now too - and I might need some Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.
If it were me, I would probably take a chance on the ones that expired May 2002, although soup is not that expensive, so maybe it’s not worth testing. However, I had some cans of soup in the back of my cupboard for more than 5 years, and many of them leaked. Some tomato soup cans has blue mold spilling out everywhere, so cans don’t last forever. You can’t be sure when the metal has started to erode, so it is best to use the expiration date as a general guide.
It seems to me that indeed canned food is good forever, in the sense that no bacterias or toxines can appear in it. But I believe it loses its gustative qualities over time…
A hint that this is probably true is that here a shop can legally sell canned food past the expiration date, which, though mandatory, appears on the label only as a recommanded limit (something like “to be consummed preferably before XX/XX/XX”) , contrarily to other food products,where the expiration date is mandatory and which can’t be sold anymore past this date.
Don’t bet you life on this though. However, I already ate canned food past the expiration date (perhaps up to one year after it) and never had any problem. I also ate home-made preserved foods (mushrooms, essentially) which were rather old (though of course there was no “expiration date”) and didn’t have any problem, either.
When we had a small food store, the local health department person told us to beware of cans which bulged. Look at the top of the can- it should not bulge outward, and you should see no movement when you press downward on the top.
I agreee with checking the cans for bulging duality. Don’t even the bulging can, just pitch it.
I’d also look at the inside of the can, rinse it out first, if the metal shows any signs of degrading, pitch it.
I can a good number of things, generally I like to eat them within 2 years. We had a 5 year jar of apple butter that ate it’s way through the glass :eek: , that’s some acidic stuff!
I’ve never seen much of a problem with commerical stuff over a year past it’s prime. More than that, check I carefully.
Sheesh…our volunteer fire department still passes out C rations from the Vietnam war. Mmmmm, you ain’t had good grits until you’ve tasted 35 year old beans and weenies, followed up with pound cake.