Canned Food: Used by-sell by dates

Hi all,

Just got this link from a family member, Used by-Sell by

Here's a spinet from the site above...

The following information sourced from TIME.com contains important information for the prepper, and anyone who is confused about what these dates really mean…

Use-by dates are contributing to millions of pounds of wasted food each year. A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic says Americans are prematurely throwing out food, largely because of confusion over what expiration dates actually mean.

Now, me and the wife have been getting food boxes for going on 5 years now, I can say that there are times that we've eaten better off food boxes than going to the store, due to the variety of what we get in them; I'm like a hawk when it comes to checking the dates on the cans, like nearly obsessive LOL .. almost

Here's what I know about about canned food, in hopes that it will save you a bit more $$ and perhaps we can get more information if there has been any real study into this.

and this co-insides with the poster on the site..

first visually examine can — if swollen or “disturbed” – chuck

second – listen when opening – if hisses or bubbles – chuck
(this is NOT to be confused with home canning products produce by home canning. When you use the church key end that you open a bottle of bear/pop, and you hear a suction and a 'pop' the can is good because of the vacuum created in the process which removes all the air out of the jar)

I'd really like to know more about the sell-by-use by dating

as far as i could guess, use by dates are a genorous guess.
manufacturers dont want you to get sick and they do want you to buy more.

so a premature use by date is a win win for them.
just eat it.

Kinda funny i stumbled upon this, (nice read btw) I was actually raised to ignore the "use-by" dates, and always just check to see if the food is good, But there was one time i do regret not going by the "best-before" date , LOL live and learn

Komodo
Hi all,

Just got this link from a family member, Used by-Sell by

Here's a spinet from the site above...

The following information sourced from TIME.com contains important information for the prepper, and anyone who is confused about what these dates really mean…

Use-by dates are contributing to millions of pounds of wasted food each year. A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic says Americans are prematurely throwing out food, largely because of confusion over what expiration dates actually mean.

Now, me and the wife have been getting food boxes for going on 5 years now, I can say that there are times that we've eaten better off food boxes than going to the store, due to the variety of what we get in them; I'm like a hawk when it comes to checking the dates on the cans, like nearly obsessive LOL .. almost

Here's what I know about about canned food, in hopes that it will save you a bit more $$ and perhaps we can get more information if there has been any real study into this.

and this co-insides with the poster on the site..

first visually examine can — if swollen or “disturbed” – chuck

second – listen when opening – if hisses or bubbles – chuck
(this is NOT to be confused with home canning products produce by home canning. When you use the church key end that you open a bottle of bear/pop, and you hear a suction and a 'pop' the can is good because of the vacuum created in the process which removes all the air out of the jar)

I work in a nursing home and it is amazing how much food we throw away,were not allowed to have expired cans our storage,it's sad that we waste all this food.Even the food we give to the patients,we have to throw away the left overs.Were not allowed to feed the nurses with the food that remains the owners rather throw the food in the trash

The Use-by and Sell-by dates are two different things.

A lot of the times, a use-by date lets the consumer know that the food after that date will be of compromised quality. Such as a depletion of nutrients. A lot of foods are still safely edible past their use-by dates.

The sell-by date foods are safe longer after their date than the use-by date foods.

reply to post by Komodo


I grew up in Appalachia. We were very very poor. My parents never threw anything out. I never got food poisoning. I am either immune at this point or something. LOL

They always said if the can was not dented, swollen, or sweating eat it. And we did.
With lunch meats the rule was basic, if it is not grey or white and smelly, Eat it.
With red meat, if it doesnt smell sour, eat it.

We also smoked our meats in an old fashioned outside smoker house. That stuff lasted forever!!!!

My kid is in college and will call me and say "my bologna says to throw away after 7 days..." I tell her what I posted above. So far so good.

A lot of food is wasted these days because of those dates.

Egss...man they can last a long long time too!! If it floats when you put it in salted water..throw it out. If it sinks...eat it!!

reply to post by k21968


Exactly! I love that post. I was raised just like that.

Mom always says, "when I was younger, we kept a smoked ham hanging up in the attic for months. Whenever we got hungry, we went up and cut off a slab. We never got sick". Now, I think a ham hanging up in the attic for months is a bit excessive but that's how they did it 50+ years ago on the farm.

reply to post by k21968

Egss...man they can last a long long time too!! If it floats when you put it in salted water..throw it out. If it sinks...eat it!!

just got this tip like 5 months ago from a friend...

prolly agree with the most part of what you say.. but, I'm skiddish probably because I was raised on a farm.. LOL ..

reply to post by Komodo

Heres a bit I found about shelf life.

Here's the short answer: Those "sell by" dates are there to protect the reputation of the food. They have very little to do with food safety. If you're worried whether food is still OK to eat, just smell it.

---

According to Ruff, most products are safe to eat long after their expiration date. In fact, even meat or milk that's clearly starting to spoil is not necessarily dangerous. "Very often, you won't eat it because of the smell, and you probably won't like the taste, but in a lot of cases, it's unlikely to cause you illness," he says.

That's because it's not the food that sat on the shelf too long that makes you sick, Ruff says. It's the food that got contaminated with salmonella or listeria bacteria, or disease-causing strains of E. coli. And that food might not smell bad as it might have arrived in the store only yesterday.

"In 40 years, in eight countries, if I think of major product recalls and food poisoning outbreaks, I can't think of [one] that was driven by a shelf-life issue," Ruff says.

expiration dates

reply to post by Komodo


those are just recommendations. And in a society where it runs on excesses, then it's not a big deal really. As we're not in survival mode really. But it's a big marketing gimmick used to sell more food, that's all it is. You get scared, throw out the old and then buy more. If they knew that can of food might actually last 10 years then no one would buy anymore canned foods as long as they have some.

intrptr
reply to post by Komodo

 

Heres a bit I found about shelf life.

Here's the short answer: Those "sell by" dates are there to protect the reputation of the food. They have very little to do with food safety. If you're worried whether food is still OK to eat, just smell it.

---

According to Ruff, most products are safe to eat long after their expiration date. In fact, even meat or milk that's clearly starting to spoil is not necessarily dangerous. "Very often, you won't eat it because of the smell, and you probably won't like the taste, but in a lot of cases, it's unlikely to cause you illness," he says.

That's because it's not the food that sat on the shelf too long that makes you sick, Ruff says. It's the food that got contaminated with salmonella or listeria bacteria, or disease-causing strains of E. coli. And that food might not smell bad as it might have arrived in the store only yesterday.

"In 40 years, in eight countries, if I think of major product recalls and food poisoning outbreaks, I can't think of [one] that was driven by a shelf-life issue," Ruff says.

expiration dates

awesome! thx !!

something else I found in that link ..
food Acution

ok .. so now this leads to me in the direction, most of which is VERY controversial. GMOs and the global conspiracy that we in shortage of food; which IMO, is what exactly spurned this 'theory' of the earth being short on food.

I believe the host in the above YT vid said the UK or the world (not sure which it was) throw away 10billion lbs of food a year~!! That's in 1 year, and all due to the sell-by-best-by dating.

Our family has been going to a reduced supermarket which purchases and sells products that are clearly marked with the sell-by dating and to my knowledge, we've only maybe 1 or 2 items, off the top of my head, that weren't good, meaning they didn't taste good at all, however I can't remember what the product was, whether it was candy, bread or what.

Now, this I do know, my wife's mother, used by canned gravy by the case full and they never had a sell-by-best-by dating at all in the 50's, 60's & 70's(?).

Great thread.

I can't tell you how many cartons of yogurt I've eaten past the expiration date....how much sour cream has been used.

I use the dates on cans and boxes as guidelines...to keep my pantry organized.
I can understand the reason behind those dates, from a manufacturer POV.

However, I must caution safe food handling practices, especially in the case of refrigerated goods.
We had a power outage, maybe 18 hours in the summer.
Kept the fridge closed.
When the power came back on, I tried to pitch as little as possible...and used the sight and smell method.
This is NOT a safe method for certain fresh foods, specifically fresh mozzarella cheese. I tasted one small ball....about the size of a large green olive. Tasted and looked fine....the expiration date was in the future.
Food poisoning ensued.

thanks...!

for the Applause

DontTreadOnMe
Great thread.

I can't tell you how many cartons of yogurt I've eaten past the expiration date....how much sour cream has been used.

I use the dates on cans and boxes as guidelines...to keep my pantry organized.
I can understand the reason behind those dates, from a manufacturer POV.

However, I must caution safe food handling practices, especially in the case of refrigerated goods.
We had a power outage, maybe 18 hours in the summer.
Kept the fridge closed.
When the power came back on, I tried to pitch as little as possible...and used the sight and smell method.
This is NOT a safe method for certain fresh foods, specifically fresh mozzarella cheese. I tasted one small ball....about the size of a large green olive. Tasted and looked fine....the expiration date was in the future.
Food poisoning ensued.

excellent points.. !

Yes...agreed with the the refrigerated goods~! I know that a few have comment about milk ok to drink past the date, but, growing up on a dairy farm, it's not the wisest choice LOL ..

reply to post by Komodo


yeah, I don't think the date is as important as the temperature.

Like thawing frozen meats on the counter top
could be very dangerous, IMHO.