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Depends on how it's processed/packaged. Foods cooked (effectively sterilized) in steel cans will last through the next ice age, similarly with irradiated food. Peanut butter however has a distinct shelf life and will go rancid undisturbed a few years past the ‘expiration date’.

[lizma2]

” Foods cooked (effectively sterilized) in steel cans will last through the next ice age”

Not always. I did have the acid in a can of tomatoes eat through it!

I think in the past people used common sense. If it smells or tastes bad...DON’T EAT IT! I also suspect use by dates are a legal CYA to protect companies from idiots who will eat anything and then try to sue if they get sick.