# Just ate peanut butter with an expiration date of 2003. What will happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2010, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937 "2010-04-13T11:29:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/21 "2010-04-13T17:03:44Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > [Aspergillus molds grow on peanuts, and produce aflatoxin.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin) The first symptoms include burping, dizziness, and hearing voices. Have you lately thought you were communicating with anyone, say, in the room, on the phone, or on the internet…? If it’s aflatoxin and you start making small quacking sounds, get to your local ER immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/22 "2010-04-13T18:25:19Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Holy shit, do I need to worry about this now? As I said, peanut butter producers are pretty careful about screening their peanuts. Handily, most Aspergillus molds fluoresce under UV, so they’ll pass the peanuts under a black light and kick out any that glow too much. That said, if you do get cancer from your peanut butter, it’ll probably be years before anyone finds it, and you’ll have forgotten all about this incident by then, so it’ll just seem like one of those things, you know? So don’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![born\_too\_late](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/23 "2010-04-13T19:49:19Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > I prefer “scooter my daisyheads.” Nose garden? ---
**Author:** ![NOLA\_Cajun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@NOLA\_Cajun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NOLA_Cajun)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/24 "2010-04-14T00:58:32Z")
According to this site: [Expiration Dates](http://www.organizeyourlife.org/Expiration.htm) that’s pretty damn old even for peanut butter. My bet is that you’ll live though. I’d be careful about eating others peoples stuff out of the company fridge. There are those that have had food stolen before and put something laced with feces in the fridge for the thieving party to enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/25 "2010-04-14T01:57:35Z")
You dead yet? ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/26 "2010-04-14T02:40:56Z")
According to [this article](http://www.slate.com/id/2244249/) from Slate, in most cases, expiration dates on food are pretty meaningless. They’re not mandated in any way, and mostly are just the date before which the manufacturers promise that it’ll taste the way it ought to, not the date after which it’ll make you violently ill. That said, 2003 is pretty damned old. Does _nobody_ ever clean out the fridge in your workplace? Where I’ve worked, everything in the fridge got tossed on a weekly or monthly schedule. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/27 "2010-04-14T03:17:41Z")
When cleaning up for accreditation (hospital) last month, I tossed a box of baking soda out of the main fridge, it had a coupon on the back that expired Dec 1999. I have no way of knowing if this was a really old box of baking soda that had been sitting in the fridge that long, or if it first had been in a store room for years or something. Curious, I peeled the box open to see what it looked like. A light grey brick. It made a satisfying thunk when it went into the garbage pail, and then crumbled only slightly. So things could be in a work fridge for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/28 "2010-04-14T04:45:55Z")
I just checked the jar I finished yesterday morning, and it expired October of 2006! I just looked in the mirror, and I’ve got severe myopia, thinning hair and an addiction to [Have I got News for You](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hignfy&aq=f)! I also recall feeding some to some mice a while back, and they _all died_. :eek: (Just stay away from mouse traps and you’ll probably be fine) ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/29 "2010-04-14T15:08:54Z")
IF you bought it from McDonald’s you should be safe > **[New cheeseburger urban myth?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=559487)** > > I put the question mark in the title because although I suspect that something is not on the up-and-up, I don’t yet have anything to point at and go “well that’s not right”. This “experiment” has been making the rounds on the internet, and I just... ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/30 "2010-04-14T15:11:50Z")
My guess would be that you’d go nutty. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/31 "2010-04-14T15:15:11Z")
Three years ago I ate old peanut butter and I died within a couple of days. … … However I did get better later. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/32 "2010-04-14T15:18:16Z")
So now they call me PB & J. Peanut Butter and Jesus. That whole resurrection thing I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/33 "2010-04-14T15:25:20Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Three years ago I ate old peanut butter and I died within a couple of days. > .. > .. > However I did get better later. I’ve never seen you and the Smoke Monster in the same room. I’m just saying . . . ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/34 "2010-04-14T15:34:27Z")
> [@WorkInProgress](#): > > Make sure it was not recalled for salmonella. You win the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937/35 "2010-04-16T07:04:42Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You win the thread. Wait, how do they get the chickens in the peanut butter? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ate-peanut-butter-with-an-expiration-date-of-2003-what-will-happen/535937.md?page=1)