I’ve got an unopened (still sealed) quart of tangerine juice. The expiration date was 1/28. Is it going to kill me if I drink it?
No way it’s bad yet. Of course, my GF would never drink anything even a couple days before its expiration date, but then again, she’s nuts. 
It’s just juice, and it’s only been a week. Drink it.
[sub]Jeez, I wish I had some tangerine juice around. Shoot.[/sub]
Ah, good. That’s what I figured. I would’ve cried if I had to throw it out - partly because it’s expensive and thus a rare treat for me, and also because it’s so tasty.
Unopened, it’s almost certainly good. And if it has gone bad, you’d notice the “off” flavor and not drink it. Definitely give it a try.
Generally speaking, the date on a product isn’t an “expiration date”, per se. It’s a “sell-by date”. When it reaches that date, stores aren’t supposed to sell it anymore. However, it’s not expected that people are going to use a product immediately, and it’s impossible to say that X product will go bad on a specific date, so the manufacturer is obviously going to err on the side of caution and give a sell-by date that is well ahead of the actual date that the product is expected to go bad. Heck, some products won’t even “go bad”. They just won’t taste as good after sitting around for a long time, and the manufacturer isn’t likely to want people’s experience with their product to be a negative one, so they get a sell-by date.
And if you add vodka, it’ll destroy any stray bacteria, right? 
…and I thought this was going to be a sexually oriented thread.
Dammit.
Never hurts to play it safe. I Absolutly agree.
Yup, and with alcohol and bacteria remember, More is Deader!
You’re all horrible, horrible people, encouraging an 18-year old to drink!
And, uh, I’d never take your advice. Unless it was a safety thing, y’know? Don’t wanna get food poisoning.
(On topic - I drank some of the juice. No adverse effects yet. I’m also doing what I can to kill any possible malevolant bacteria-folk by consuming an assuredly unhealthy quantity of really hot salsa.)
Salsa and tangerine juice. Nice.
Need some Tums?