#214: the italian spices in my cupboard expired in 2009

[specter_rot]

Would you eat food past its expiration date if it looked and smelled fine?

Feel free to answer in the comments or paste the code below into your own journal to answer the question.

<b><user name="questionoftheday"> asks:</b> Would you eat food past its expiration date if it looked and smelled fine?<br><br><b>My answer:</b>

Comments

old food

[oldtoadwoman]

Near the date? Absolutely. The "sell by / best by" dates are pretty arbitrary and have nothing to do with food safety and are more about when to pull things from shelves.

However, I can tell you from experience those spices that expired in 2009 are probably, at best, bland and worthless and, at worst, stale and slightly funky. In fact, I can now tell you from experience that, yes, eggs will go bad in the fridge eventually if you forget them for long enough and, yes, flour can actually go stale and make nasty-tasting baked goods. (I have a long history of forgetting things in the back of the fridge/cupboard. I've never made myself sick from eating old food, but I've definitely ruined a few meals.)

[sorchasilver]

Answered here

[aetherblue]

Answered in my journal.

[starfleetbrat]

For spices, I read that they never really go off, but that the effect they have on food is reduced. Like hot spices are no longer hot, and salty spices are no longer salty. Most spices are just dried and ground up plant material.

Other food though, it depends on the food. "Use by" dates I tend to stick to, you'll find "use by" on dairy and meat and anything that WILL go off within a few days or a couple of weeks. I might give it an extra day, but beyond that... no. "Best before" dates you can ignore and use your judgement. A lot of countries require food to have a best before date by law, so even stuff like Water has a best before date, and water never goes off (unless it's contaminated) it might go stale, but it's still fairly safe to drink. Even sugar and salt have best before days and they last forever. I've seen cola and canned food have best before dates and they last a long time too. The "best before" date is really there just to say "this food is probably still ok to eat, but it may have lost a little of its flavour and quality after this time period. Use your judgement."

[lovepeaceohana]

I'm sure there are exceptions, but in general yeah if it looks fine, smells fine -- and I know the conditions in which it's been kept -- it's probably safe enough, even past the printed expiration date.

[calzephyr]

I have chucked spices and tea even if they may still be fine. I figure if I haven't used them in ten years, I'm not going to use them in the next ten years :-D

I wouldn't eat fast food that looked fine. Bacteria is invisible!