# The expiration date is not important! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609 "2012-09-04T02:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/21 "2012-09-04T20:35:12Z")
> [@JessEnigma](#): > > I feel like soda goes off surprisingly quickly. One of my college dorms had Coke machines that would apparently go for months without being refilled … The coke machines in my dorm were always EMPTY! Or out of all the good stuff. Grape Fanta — bleh! ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/22 "2012-09-05T00:47:27Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When we moved into this house, the previous owners had left a buttload of stuff in the fridge and cabinets - items with expiration dates from ten years earlier!!! We bought the house in 2004 and found a six-pack of Coors Light dated 1997 in the garage fridge. I still have no idea how old the bottle of Cold Duck was - do they even make that any more?? The point is, sometimes those expiration dates can be helpful guides. 😉 I recently found a case of Leinenkugel in the basement that my husband bought for our housewarming party in 2003. I don’t drink beer but I was tempted to sneak one into his current stash and see if he noticed. > [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > People, my point wasn’t to disparage eggs. I know full well that they can last weeks after the use by date. > > \ > > My point really wasn’t about eggs. It’s just that the dates are guidelines and everybody should just think about the type of foodstuff when looking at the guideline. Eh? :dubious: **I have bolded** the applicable sentences below. > [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > The point is, it is the type of foodstuff that matters. **Eggs are going to go dangerously bad pretty quickly after their expiration date. Don’t eat them.** Saltine crackers will be fine years after their date - though they will be stale. If you like stale crackers, have at 'em. Salad dressing is going to be somewhere in between, and will also depend on the type of dressing. I agree with your general sentiment, though, and I only wanted to do my part to dispel the fairly common myth that eggs become dangerous after their sell by/use by date and must be immediately dumped into landfills. (I also want to express my delight that much of our egg information has been provided by Dopers named **pullet** and **Dr. Drake**.) Final egg-expiration trivia: I recently saw a profile piece on TV station about an artist who decorated eggs in the traditional Ukrainian manner (using melted wax and dyes), and she said she never blew out the eggshells as most people do. She just sets the eggs aside and lets them dehydrate for up to a year until all that is left inside is a tiny piece of mummified yolk. She said they don’t develop odors or signs of bacterial growth and she decorates the shell around that remnant of the contents. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/23 "2012-09-05T09:42:41Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’ve used eggs past the date, but only if they pass the float test. Fill a glass with cold tap water and put the egg in the water (don’t drop it, you’ll break it). If it floats, it’s no good, toss it out. An egg that floats has started producing hydrogen sulfide, the compound that makes rotten eggs stinky, which lowers the density of the egg and allows it to float. An egg that isn’t yet rotten should stay on the bottom. The reason that old eggs float is that the air cell is relatively large. The air cell is usually filled with, well, air, which isn’t dangerous. The shell is permeable to gas, meaning that water vapor can escape and be replaced with air. If there’s enough hydrogen sulfide to to significantly change the buoyancy, you will smell it as soon as you crack it open. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/24 "2012-09-06T02:20:44Z")
When I moved in to my first solo apartment, my dear mother gave me boxes of food from her pantry. There’s no telling how old most of it was; how many 21yo boys look at expiration dates on food? How many of them \*\*\*know \*\*\*there’s an expiration date on food? Anyway, I was going to impress Mrs. Ducati by cooking at home one night, and broke out a can of [La Choy Beef Chow Mein](http://www.lachoy.com/products/family-meals.jsp). Yeah, it smelled a little funky while cooking, but it’s Asian, right? I fixed our plates and sat down and we both realized that the dead skunk/whale carcass/paper mill smell was the meal I had just prepared. We dumped it all in the trash and headed out for dinner. Mrs. Duc was kind enough to point out the expiration date was 4 years before…:eek: I thought canned goods lasted forever, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/25 "2012-09-06T03:24:38Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > When I moved in to my first solo apartment, my dear mother gave me boxes of food from her pantry. > There’s no telling how old most of it was; how many 21yo boys look at expiration dates on food? > How many of them \*\*\*know \*\*\*there’s an expiration date on food? > > Anyway, I was going to impress Mrs. Ducati by cooking at home one night, and broke out a can of [La Choy Beef Chow Mein](http://www.lachoy.com/products/family-meals.jsp). > > Yeah, it smelled a little funky while cooking, but it’s Asian, right? I fixed our plates and sat down and we both realized that the dead skunk/whale carcass/paper mill smell was the meal I had just prepared. We dumped it all in the trash and headed out for dinner. > > Mrs. Duc was kind enough to point out the expiration date was 4 years before…:eek: > > I thought canned goods lasted forever, don’t they? They are guarunteed fresh until you open them - not afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/26 "2012-09-06T04:29:53Z")
How long have they been putting dates on canned food, anyway? I only started noticing them in the last few years (although, given my age, “few years” can mean up to ten) when I was selecting food to donate. I’ve always cleared out my pantry this way, but food pantries won’t take canned goods that are past their sell-by date. So nowadays, I go through the non-perishables when there’s a food drive - but I end up using the oldest stuff, donating the things that are still good, and shoving the newest stuff to the back of the shelf. And where do things like canned baby corn come from, anyway? I swear I never buy them, but there always seems to be a can in there, lurking. That gets thrown out if it’s anywhere near its sell-by date. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/27 "2012-09-06T10:34:59Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > And where do things like canned baby corn come from, anyway? I swear I never buy them, but there always seems to be a can in there, lurking. That gets thrown out if it’s anywhere near its sell-by date. We have a mysteriously appearing can of deviled ham. I throw it away and months later, there it is again. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/28 "2012-09-06T11:18:32Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > And where do things like canned baby corn come from, anyway? Baby corn comes from baby cows. Well, not exactly baby cows per se, but there are fields in Chile where they raise these little six inch tall cows. The cows are adults, but they eat the stalks of the corns and leave the ears. Chilean farmers pick up the ears and sell it as “baby corn”. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2012, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/29 "2012-09-06T11:41:55Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Well, except for botulism and salmonella. > > We have a rule about eggs. When their expiration date has passed, I may only use them in food **Mr. Mallard** won’t be eating. So far, no ill effects. It’s true they’re less fresh, but nothing rotten or poisonous so far, and I’ll go weeks beyond the date. So if our respective families ever get together for brunch, it will be at my house. Gotcha. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/30 "2012-09-06T12:04:48Z")
I heard a rumor once that the entire ‘sell by’ date thing was a marketing ploy invented by a British grocery store chain. Makes sense to me. If you can get people to throw away their ‘out of date’ stuff, they’ll buy more. And it fools people into thinking the stuff on your shelves is ‘fresh’. I’m willing to bet the supermarkets have negotiated a deal with the suppliers to take back ‘expired’ stock. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/31 "2012-09-06T12:41:55Z")
FYI, the manufacturer, not the FDA, is the one who determines expiration dates on products. Many people do not know this. The key is that whatever date they stamp on the box, they have to back up with testing and data. As you can imagine, many manufacturers/distributors will use a relatively conservative expiration date. For all they know, the product might be good for 3 years, but they put 6 months as the expiration because that’s as far out as they’ve bothered to test. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/32 "2012-09-06T13:31:13Z")
My grandmother died when I was 17 years old. Not long after my dad had cleaned out the house, we found him eating some of the jams and jellies that grandma had. When we looked at the package, some of them had expired _before I was born_. According to my dad, it’s fine, the sugar just crystallizes a bit. We still made him throw it away and we just bought new jars at the store for a few bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/33 "2012-09-06T13:54:27Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > I heard a rumor once that the entire ‘sell by’ date thing was a marketing ploy invented by a British grocery store chain. Makes sense to me. If you can get people to throw away their ‘out of date’ stuff, they’ll buy more. And it fools people into thinking the stuff on your shelves is ‘fresh’. I’m willing to bet the supermarkets have negotiated a deal with the suppliers to take back ‘expired’ stock. Not in my experience of working in a chain grocery- it’s chucked, or even goes in a crusher to stop people from nicking it. The only thing that got returned was one make of bread, and magazines. I remember having a school friend who was utterly convinced that even a day after the date meant inedible- her parents ran a pub, and she always got some bar snacks (chocolate, crisps, peanuts… ) that were just out of date with her lunch- and gave them to me, every time. 😃 I’m not dead. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/34 "2012-09-06T17:39:48Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I’m not dead. That’s what all the zombies think. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/35 "2012-09-06T22:27:40Z")
**Filbert** , that reminds me of a friend at school who always used to come in with lots of boxes of Mr Kipling cakes to share around the class at break. He got then from the bin at the back of the supermarket where they were dumped, sealed and undamaged, when they passed the sell-by date by one day. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/36 "2012-09-06T23:20:44Z")
Over here, we have “sell by”, “use by”, and “best before”. All are pretty self explanatory, consequence being that it’s only the “use by” you have to be careful with. Some stuff even a day after the use by can be going rotten. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/37 "2012-09-08T07:17:38Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > My grandmother died when I was 17 years old. Not long after my dad had cleaned out the house, we found him eating some of the jams and jellies that grandma had. When we looked at the package, some of them had expired _before I was born_. According to my dad, it’s fine, the sugar just crystallizes a bit. We still made him throw it away and we just bought new jars at the store for a few bucks. Last summer we got some jam from my father in laws place. It had been made my my late mother in law, who I never met, who died of cancer several years before I met my husband. And she had been too ill to do preserves the summer before she died. My husband didn’t know weather to keep this as a sentimental souvenir, or eat it. Two jars were moldy on top, we pitched the jam and saved the jar with his mom’s handwriting on it, and a few others seemed ok. I love home made jams and jellies (much more than my husband does) and I refused to eat them, and I wouldn’t let my then 7 year old eat it either. (particularly since the jars were not standard mason type jars, but recycled supermarket store jams jars, relish jars etc. I didn’t trust the seal. Hubby survived fine. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/38 "2012-09-09T08:09:12Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I’m not dead. I see well fed dead people. ---
**Author:** ![MaltLiquor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@MaltLiquor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaltLiquor)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/39 "2012-09-09T08:25:53Z")
Really depends on the product. Eggs, for me I will go a week or so. I know they are fine long after that but they are so damn cheap why bother. Soda, no go. That stuff gets nasty. Beer, never in a can (see soda) in a bottle is possible but only after checking for yeast sediment. Okay, all canned goods are a no go. I have eaten plenty of expired salad dressings at my parent house, never been sick but wouldn’t do it in my own home. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609/40 "2012-09-09T22:08:38Z")
> [@MaltLiquor](#): > > Okay, all canned goods are a no go. Why canned goods? Unless it is years past the expiration date, I doubt you would ever notice any change in taste. I recently ate a can of mixed fruit that expired a year ago but still tasted perfectly fine and for all I know still had the same nutritional quality; since, after all, that is what canning is for, [this page](http://www.internet-grocer.net/how-long.htm) talks about canned meat, canned when the technology was in its infancy, lasting 118 years: > [@](#): > > The contents, then over one hundred years old, were chemically analyzed and found to have kept most of their nutrients and to be in fairly perfect condition. The veal was fed to a cat, who had no complaints whatsoever. (although, some of the other examples say that the food no longer smelled or tasted fresh and lost nutrients, depending on the food and probably canning process) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-expiration-date-is-not-important/633609.md?page=3)