# Eat expired food, says Feds



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

From an article in the Washington Examiner: Feds urge eating expired food, even if 18 months past throwaway date | WashingtonExaminer.com

The USDA is wanting to combat excessive food waste by informing the population about the misconception behind food dates.
They've even released an app, FoodKeeper(for Android), FoodKeeper(for Apple), that is supposed to help calculate a more accurate expiration date for your food.
I've not tried it yet, but might give it a shot.

As preppers, we're always curious to know just how long our food stocks could last if unused. This might help to better plan your stores.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Many dates are randomly posted just because the fda says an expiration date must appear.


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

From my understanding most of those dates are actually "sell by" dates and the food is good much longer. I eat expired stuff all the time and I'm fine. Could explain all the hair though.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

I've eaten years old Vienna sausage and years old pork and beans with no ill effects. Not the tastiest, but was edible and filled the hole.


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

kevincali said:


> I've eaten years old Vienna sausage and years old pork and beans with no ill effects. Not the tastiest, but was edible and filled the hole.


Does anyone else see the immense comedy gold in a post that mentions both Vienna sausage and filling a hole?

Anyone....anyone?

Mish was right, I am a perv.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

Sasquatch said:


> Does anyone else see the immense comedy gold in a post that mentions both Vienna sausage and filling a hole?
> 
> Anyone....anyone?
> 
> Mish was right, I am a perv.


Hahahahahahahahahahaaha


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

I have eaten canned pinto beans that were 4 years past their "best by" date.
The key is the condition of the can. No dents, no rust, and if the lid is bulged it is definitely BAD.
We keep our canned good back stock inside the house, where it can stay dry and reasonably climate controlled.

The biggest help I have found is your own nose. It will tell you when something is bad enough to make you sick.


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## mcangus (Jun 3, 2014)

A federal agency is actually doing something noble and wise. I am in a twilight zone.

Thanks for sharing the apps. And I clap my hands to whoever in USDA got this thing rolling.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

it was Cpt Bach he works for the FDA but I thought he was studying mosquito larva in like Kansas or something?


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Maybe it was addressed to the mosquitoes to eat expired people????


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

The expiration dates on some foods, are put there so folks will throw them out and buy more.
Capatilism!


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Well it maybe good it may not be you have to make up your own mind. This is just more of this administration running it's global warming scam. Now blaming food production.
Notice the timing with the current water issues in CA


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## PatriotFlamethrower (Jan 10, 2015)

From what I've heard, Obama likes some Vienna sausages now and then. Except I doubt they're from Vienna. :evil:


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

I drank some milk that was way past its date. Well, more like ate it with a fork. I'm still feeling queasy and the hallucinogenic flashbacks are slowly receding. Best week ever!! But not for the feight of heart...


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

PatriotFlamethrower said:


> From what I've heard, Obama likes some Vienna sausages now and then. Except I doubt they're from Vienna. :evil:


There is a Vienna, Georgia. And a Cairo.
And Bacon County.


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

Of course they didn't bother mentioning this until they started getting concerned about food production ... didn't want to salt the game of the companies that had been making so much money replacing the food the government used to tell us to throw out.


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

Spice said:


> Of course they didn't bother mentioning this until they started getting concerned about food production ... didn't want to salt the game of the companies that had been making so much money replacing the food the government used to tell us to throw out.


its never been about your health. its always been about money.


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

kevincali said:


> I've eaten years old Vienna sausage and years old pork and beans with no ill effects. Not the tastiest, but was edible and filled the hole.


I am not sure that Vienna sausage actually counts as food safe for human consumption, ever.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> I am not sure that Vienna sausage actually counts as food safe for human consumption, ever.


Sure it is. Just like spam, hot dogs and dak. It's just the slop swept up off the butchers floor. What's not to like? Maybe try it with some BBQ sauce? Or Tabasco. That stuff makes anything taste good.


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## Ragnarök (Aug 4, 2014)

My lunch today is a can of corn and instant dry potato flakes that expired in 2015. I figure why not save the food and see if they are right. Recently ate a pack of hotdogs that were expired by 1 month...got a little gassy but what do you expect from eating 8 hotdogs


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## watchin (Apr 24, 2014)

I attempted to eat a can of soup that expired 3 years ago. It was a chicken tortilla someting or other. Had rice in it that seemed to be breaking down and the chicken had taken on the taste of metal. I opeded to not continue consuming.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## jim-henscheli (May 4, 2015)

I have shells and cheese from y2k, FINE. I have eaten Doritos my granny bought around super bowl 43. Fine. I avoid some soups, but usually if the cab is intact, it's good to go.


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## Oddcaliber (Feb 17, 2014)

I think I've got a 10 year old can of Spam somewhere! Found it next to the Twinkies.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

If the can or jar is not popped open, leaking, bulged ti food is probably edible. Use your tongue 
for confirmation. My mother was an avid canner having lived thru WWI as a teen, the depression 
as a young adult and thru WWII as mother of 5. As I grew up I helped her can so many different 
vegetables, I can't name them all. When She finally decided to sell the house and we were 
cleaning it out, I took home case of her canned foods, some going back 12 years. I did find a 
few that had leaked and I tossed them but the rest were a little off, but I ate all of the jars except 
the beets. I tried saving them by pickling them but it didn't really work very well.

When I got into prepping I contacted many different companies about there canned good. The basic
answer was that the date was not an expiration date but as it is now printed, "best by" date. They
said the food after that date was fine as long as the can was intact, hadn't leaked or bulged. The 
food will slowly lose some flavor or the flavor might change some and the nutritional value would
decrease.


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

I downloaded the app on my wife's phone. At first glance there might be some handy reference info there but the times seem pretty short from what I saw. Milk said 1 week and eggs only 3-5 weeks. It seems to imply from purchase not past the BB date.


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## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

paraquack said:


> If the can or jar is not popped open, leaking, bulged ti food is probably edible. Use your tongue
> for confirmation. My mother was an avid canner having lived thru WWI as a teen, the depression
> as a young adult and thru WWII as mother of 5. As I grew up I helped her can so many different
> vegetables, I can't name them all. When She finally decided to sell the house and we were
> ...


I totally agree. Canned foods last many years past the "best by date." They do lose nutritional value, but still edible unless damaged as indicated above. I do find that Fruit and food with a high acidity level do appear to spoil quicker than others. I commonly eat canned food well past the best by date, including a can of ravioli from 2008 just a month ago. It was totally fine.


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## watchin (Apr 24, 2014)

I would agree on the high acidity type foods. Opened a can of tomato paste and it had a metallic taste like the soup I tried. That's all I've ever really experienced with eating passed experation cans of food, they have metallic taste, but not spoiled by anymeans. I have some cans of tuna that I'm going to look at next, ya'll think thoes might be a bit riskier?

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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

Rotation, rotation, rotation, you guys suck, LOL. Just kiddin.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

A lot of packages are nearly bullet-proof, and I have to use a knife to open ones like that. Those vacuum-packed what-nots, and canned stuff; look like they could be used 5 years into the future. I am not trying to be silly, but to me; a plastic can of Folgers floating down a creek, would be usable, if it is still sealed. 
(I am just using exaggeration to make my point here; but, it is still a valid point.)


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> I am not sure that Vienna sausage actually counts as food safe for human consumption, ever.


Nope! They rock! I have never bothered worrying, about what they were made of, I just ate 'em. That goes for hot dogs and Chezze Whiz too.:vs_bananasplit: 
(Chitlins and souse, are not out of the question either.)

View attachment 38937

UMMM!!! Look at that, souse! If I could eat that, I could eat roadkill! I ain't too proud. 
https://woefuloffal.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/souse-a-traditional-southern-head-cheese/


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

MisterMills357 said:


> Nope! They rock! I have never bothered worrying, about what they were made of, I just ate 'em. That goes for hot dogs and Chezze Whiz too.:vs_bananasplit:
> (Chitlins and souse, are not out of the question either.)
> 
> View attachment 38937
> ...


Well, as somebody who's first job was in a meat packing plant... well... you can eat all of the ones set aside for me, my gift to you.

I don't eat meat that I don't personally kill and process.


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## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

MaterielGeneral said:


> Rotation, rotation, rotation, you guys suck, LOL. Just kiddin.


True, but I have so much canned food that I could not possible eat fast enough to rotate.


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## Ragnarök (Aug 4, 2014)

I ate Vienna sausages for the first time about a month ago...they are not that bad...I fed one to one of my dogs and after eating it she threw up violently a couple times...


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## Bigfoot63 (Aug 11, 2016)

In 1978 we used to eat c- rations while deep sea fishing that were left over from Korea. Still breathing and no I'll effects at all.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

jim-henscheli said:


> I have shells and cheese from y2k, FINE. I have eaten Doritos my granny bought around super bowl 43. Fine. I avoid some soups, but usually if the cab is intact, it's good to go.


I have found that bags of chips, even unopened, have gone rancid a couple months after the date on the bag. It's the oil in them. They tasted nasty and out they went.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

MisterMills357 said:


> Nope! They rock! I have never bothered worrying, about what they were made of, I just ate 'em. That goes for hot dogs and Chezze Whiz too.:vs_bananasplit:
> (Chitlins and souse, are not out of the question either.)
> 
> View attachment 38937
> ...


Yummy! Got a brick or loaf, depending, in the fridge now. Since you're tempting me I may indeed have some for breakfast in the morning! Ate my scrapple a couple days ago. I cook the souse down to liquid in a pot and pour it over hot biscuits. Throw a couple eggs over-easy on top and Woo-hoo, you got salivating now!


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## honestprepper (Mar 24, 2017)

I heard that canned sardines if stored properly can last close enough to forever. Btw, in order to track expiry dates, I've made an app myself. It's called Expiry Wiz and for now, it's only for Android phones. It still needs few improvements but for now, reviews are pretty good on google play. Can't post a link for now, but if you want to check it out google "expiry wiz" or "honest prepper how to track expiration dates" ...


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