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This man ate ‘expired’ food for a year. Here’s why expiration dates are practically meaningless.
Washington Post ^ | June 17, 2019 | Daron Taylor

Posted on 06/18/2019 3:55:13 PM PDT by EdnaMode

Last year, Mom’s Organic Market founder and chief executive Scott Nash did something many of us are afraid to do: He ate a cup of yogurt months after its expiration date. Then tortillas a year past their expiration date. “I mean, I ate heavy cream I think 10 weeks past date,” Nash said, “and then meat sometimes a good month past its date. It didn’t smell bad. Rinse it off, good to go.” It was all part of his year-long experiment to test the limits of food that had passed its expiration date. In the video above, we interviewed Nash about his experiment and examined where expiration dates come from and what they really mean.

It turns out that the dates on our food labels do not have much to do with food safety. In many cases, expiration dates do not indicate when the food stops being safe to eat — rather, they tell you when the manufacturer thinks that product will stop looking and tasting its best. Some foods, such as deli meats, unpasteurized milk and cheese, and prepared foods such as potato salad that you do not reheat, probably should be tossed after their use-by dates for safety reasons.

Tossing out a perfectly edible cup of yogurt every once in a while does not seem that bad. But it adds up. According to a survey by the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and the National Consumers League, 84 percent of consumers at least occasionally throw out food because it is close to or past its package date, and over one third (37 percent) say they always or usually do so.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Society
KEYWORDS: expirationdate; expirationdates; expiredfood; food; mom; momsorganicmarket; nash; scottnash
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To: Sequoyah101
Tobasco or Louisiana brand sauce were lifsavers. That and a pinch of C4 to heat the stuff. Nothing like cranking open a 40+ year old can of "beefsteak" and being treated to the smell of Alpo.

Or opening the wrong end of beans and franks to dig into 1/4" of congealed grease. We did not get MRE's, they were sometime later. We did grab some sort of pouch type food the army got now and then. IIRC, not to bad if you could find some hot water.

121 posted on 06/18/2019 10:53:24 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: yarddog

Pork Chow Mein was the best MRE ever!

Sadly discontinued due to PC Snowflakes :(


122 posted on 06/18/2019 10:55:05 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: lizma2

I had a can of sauerkraut do that, the lesson here is jar your tomatos and kraut. :)


123 posted on 06/18/2019 11:01:22 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

My Brothers Ex wife would throw the pickles out after a week in the fridge LOL


124 posted on 06/18/2019 11:11:52 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: yarddog

C rations WWII were in cans.


125 posted on 06/18/2019 11:16:40 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: doorgunner69

Fire makes all rations better!


126 posted on 06/18/2019 11:34:56 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Anything pickled lasts forever — it’s a great preservative. I think my jars of dill pickles probably last a year.


127 posted on 06/18/2019 11:56:34 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ExSES

When I was a teenager and worked at a cheese store, we took vinegar to “clean” the cheese and wipe off mold.


128 posted on 06/19/2019 1:56:45 AM PDT by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: cyclotic

When I was on a U.S. Forest Service fire crew in the mid 60s, we carried 1943 “C” rations in our field packs. The cigarettes were a little dry, and smoked quickly, but the rest of the ration was alright. Not haute cuisine, by any ones standards, but they filled our bellies just fine


129 posted on 06/19/2019 3:29:21 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: EdnaMode

When I was in college, a frat brother and I decided to test the half-life of a Twinkie. We nailed two unwrapped Twinkies to a wall and ate them 30 and 60 days later.

... a little crusty, but went down fine w/ beer.


130 posted on 06/19/2019 6:40:33 AM PDT by nicollo (I said no!)
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To: nicollo

Pizza only gets old after a week or so.


131 posted on 06/19/2019 6:44:40 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: EdnaMode

When Mom moved back in to the family homestead in 1993 whe found in the basement veggies that Grandma had canned. Grandma had died in 1948.

Of course they dumped everything, but she said it all looked and smelled perfectly fine and fresh as they opened the jars and threw it away.


132 posted on 06/19/2019 6:47:05 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Every illegal alien is very likely a dirty bomb in biological warfare against the U.S.)
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To: EdnaMode

Expiration dates are just an offshoot of the big government nanny state regulators. Yes they are somewhat helpful, packing dates are also useful. But as with all government regulations - YOU still have to participate and not be a mind numbed robot.


133 posted on 06/19/2019 6:48:36 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: EdnaMode
Just don't eat ………..:


134 posted on 06/19/2019 6:49:45 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (Quit calling them liberals, progs, socialists, or democrats. Call them what they are: COMMUNISTS!!!!)
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To: Larry Lucido

“Expired sour cream is......sour?”

That comedian Gallagher had a bit about how do you know when yoghurt goes bad. It doesn’t even become yoghurt until it’s spoiled. (The way he said it was funny.)


135 posted on 06/19/2019 6:51:49 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Every illegal alien is very likely a dirty bomb in biological warfare against the U.S.)
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To: outofsalt

I do that, too. The manager marks it down to about half price and it’s still good. Gotta get there early, though, or it’s gone.


136 posted on 06/19/2019 6:54:29 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Every illegal alien is very likely a dirty bomb in biological warfare against the U.S.)
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To: leaning conservative

Yeah, it’s been fun reading all the comments. :D


137 posted on 06/19/2019 7:32:14 AM PDT by EdnaMode
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To: Tucker39
Was your brother in the liberation of Guam? That was in 1944.

I think the first time I was aware of what year it was was when I was 5, but that was in the 1950s.

138 posted on 06/19/2019 11:33:07 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: central_va

A place I used to work left a pia on the counter. On day three it was still OK.

A kid I know found a left over egg McMuffin in his mom’s car. He got might sick. It was several days old.


139 posted on 06/19/2019 12:49:35 PM PDT by cyclotic
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To: Prince Caspian
I’m done testing the expiration limits. I ate a can of soup that was maybe 4 months past its due date. Opened it first. Smelled fine. But something about the consistency seemed slightly different. But no big deal, I thought. I was sick from both ends for the next 3 days. I’m done with that. Don’t even think about it.

You likely did not heat it high and long enough, as that would kill bacteria, although toxins it produced would remain. Beware of tomato products, for due to the PH bacteria tends to grow (and of course, throw out any puffed can), while non-fat (fat grows rancid) high sugar products can last quite long.

140 posted on 06/20/2019 8:10:37 AM PDT by daniel1212 (Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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