Expiration Dates on Food

In regards to eggs: They actually last longer than most people know. Back in the old days before true refrigeration people would keep eggs for a few weeks (without refrigeration) My grandmother shipped fresh eggs from Wisconsin to Poland without any ice! We have 50 chickens and every year we find a pile of eggs that some rogue chicken had been laying in a secret spot. We've tested those eggs that were sitting out in the sun for a few weeks and they have almost always passed the "sink in water test".

Most of the labels say "BEST if used by ...." That doesn't mean that it all of a sudden goes nasty the day after that date...

Manufacturers had to have some kind of guidelines..... I don't worry too much about the dates... I look at the package, too.... canned foods... if the can itself is getting nasty, and a bit corroded, I pitch it.

Condiments like salad dressing, mustard, barbecue sauce, ketchup? They have so much vinegar and such in them that nothing is going to grow in them like that.....

I don't really worry about stuff (other than dairy/meat) unless it is several months beyond the date.

I did some basic research on expiration dates or "best if sold by" dates. The articles I found contradict each other.

I can tell you this from my education and experience, Expiration dates are there to make you fear food beyond a certain date, Who benefits from expiration dates? In other words, follow the money. Who benefits economically? The manufacturers, the wholesalers and the stores and the landfills. You throw something away and then buy more so everyone profits, except you. The government gets more taxes, the manufacturer and everyone listed sells more product and makes more profits. That means they have a monetary interest in your throwing good food away. Greed pure and simple. You fear. They profit.

When they found and opened up King Tut's tomb, they found all kids of food stored so King Tut would have food to eat on his journey to the afterlife. Scientists took the wheat and used it to add disease resistance and drought tolerance to modern wheat. The wheat was viable and edible. According to the USDA, the wheat was centuries out of date and should have been thrown away, according to conventional wisdom.

According to what I have read, America throws away more food than any other country in the world (abut 50% of every grocery dollar is sent to the landfil.). AND that includes some third world countries where refrigeration is a luxury.

I have my kids over for dinner almost every Sunday. I made tacos and someone brought up expiration dates. Two of my children's spouces emphatically stated that out of date food was easy to tell by taste and was unsafe to eat. They wouldn't change their minds and were immune to any common sense arguements. After dinner, I dug the food wrappers out of the trash to look at the dates. The cheese was about 6 years out of date. The hamburger was 4 to 5 years out of date. The tortillas were almost one year out of date. No one complained about how the food tasted. Or its texture or anything else.

Eggs used to be stored out on the counter in stores before refrigeration became required. I used to go to a farmer that raised chickens for eggs. He never had refrigeration for his eggs until someone from the state (California) visited his shop and told him he couldn't sell eggs anymore until he put in refrigeration for his eggs. The result? He bought a refrigerated egg display case and the price of eggs went up 10 cents to 20 cents per dozen. I've raised chickens before. A hen will sit on her eggs and keep them viable until she has enough eggs in her nest to incubate them so they will hatch them all at one time. A hen willl lay almost one egg per day. The chickens I had wanted to have a clutch of a dozen eggs. It usually takes 14 to 16 days for the hen to get a dozen eggs in her nest. According to our government, those eggs are unusuable and should be thrown away because they are no good. But that "dumb cluck" sitting on those eggs knows better than all of the PHD's in the USDA and with patience and perserverence will hatch a dozen chicks.

Before the lawyers got involved, I would bargain with the dairy managers for their dairy items that were either out of date or going out of date and them I'd take them home and feed my family. Adjusting for inflation to today's prices, I'd pay 10 cents for yogurt, 50 cents per pound for cheese, 50 per gallon for milk and 25 cents per container for heavy cream and cottage cheese. If they had enough heavy cream, and I could get it cheap enough I would churn my own butter.

I have used canned tuna that was 5 to 8 years out of date. I have used Rotel that was three years out of date. When I go to the store to buy cereal, I look at the expiration dates and I know if the oldest expiration date is 9 months away, that the cereal will do fine on my shelf for at least 18 months.

I check the dates on products when I use them. I smell them and some times taste them. If it smells ok and tastes ok, then I use it.

Of course if money is no object, then throw away and spend like you don't really care. AND remember the wheat in King Tut's tomb that was CENTURIES out of date according to the government.

Good luck to you and yours.

"Expired" food can usually be eaten safely after the date is passed. That date indicates the peak usage time - "best quality." It's helpful to us consumers because it lets us know how long that carton of eggs or that can of beans has been in the store. There is still an amount of time after that date before the food becomes unsafe. How long that time is depends on what food it is and on how it has been stored.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Food_Product_dating/

As far as eggs are concerned, I go ahead and use them after the date has passed, but I always test each egg before I use it. It takes only a few seconds with the tried-and-true water method: you fill a measuring cup with water and carefully put the egg in. If it sinks to the bottom, it's usable. If it floats to the top, it's not. Your husband could have fun doing that. :^)

Meh.
The expiration or sell by or use by date (they are all different) is more of a suggestion than a firm 'absolutely do NOT use it beyond this' date.
For eggs. it's a sell by date (not an expiration date) and they are good for 3 to 5 weeks afterward.
Throwing them out earlier is just a waste of good food.
If these dates really bother you, then adopt a more European style of shopping and just buy what food you need every day or every few days so you never have than much on hand to go bad.

I volunteered at a food pantry once and they were allowed to give out canned foods that were up to 6 months expired.

Most items are fine for quite some time after the expiration dates, and some items are just a "sell by date" not that they are expiring that day. I go by smell and texture not so much the dates on the package. If things are not stored properly they can go bad faster than the date, like dairy products but most things just get stale.

My husband gets freaked out with these dates and will toss things out without checking them. He forgets that not long ago these items never had expiration dates and people had to use their own judgment.

The dates on the food are usually the "sell by" date. Items in the dairy case (milk, eggs, yogurt, cream...) should be good for at least a week past this date. I'm sure I've used eggs several weeks past the date and they have been good. If meat is approaching the date, I freeze it. Food doesn't just turn bad. You can look at it and smell it to tell if it is safe

stilltasty.com - excellent resource for all those "iffy" items

I keep canned goods beyond the date, but not any dairy or animal products.

i like the water trick for the eggs. saw it on fb, tried it, and it WORKS!!

http://busycooks.about.com/od/quicktips/qt/testingeggs.htm

I'm usually pretty lenient with stuff, but I really couldn't tell you unless I'm actually in the process of deciding. :)

Food has expiration dates for a reason.
It's not a conspiracy theory, it's a health issue!
Follow them!

I've used eggs WAY past the sell-by date. I've never had a problem. I usually drink the milk if it's only a few days past and smells ok. If ketchup has been sitting in my fridge for weeks and expires, I usually get a new one and toss the old one out, since it's been sitting there for awhile.

http://www.stilltasty.com/questions/index/52

I do eggs 1 week past expiration date as long as they smell and look fine. Milk depends---usually just 1 or 2 days after then I toss. We don't used canned food so I don't know.

Eggs I throw away, but I freeze a lot of things.

I no longer needed a lemon so I squeezed the juice and froze it. If I open a carton of chicken stock, I freeze the rest. If a banana is too ripe for my liking, I freeze it and chop it up for pancakes or banana bread.

Ketchup and vinegar never last long enough for me to worry about. BTW...does mustard expire?

I am not crazy about milk, so I dig in the back of the cooler at the store for the freshest date I can get my hands on.