Yes, well, it's not exactly Wednesday. It happens. Never too late for a quick tip, however.

Today's quick tip is about canned food. I think it's at some point everyone has come across that rogue can of pork and beans at the back of the cabinet that expired a couple of years ago. The question comes across your mind: is this still safe to eat? Could this still be good? When I was a young cook, just out of the military, I would not think twice… eat that! Of course, I would also eat pizza left in the back seat of the car for a couple of days and think when I found it, "sweet!" Down the hatch. Bulletproof belly.

How long has this pizza box been under my gym bag in the car? Who cares!

I remember my mother talking to me about this when we would talk about mostly dairy products since I grew up on a dairy farm at that time, and of course, not unlike now, food was very precious and hard to come by, and we considered anything purchased at a store very expensive. My mother was actually the first one to point out to me that it says 'best before' or 'best by,' not do not eat after or throw away after as a date stamp. There's also a principle that was advanced by a famous theorist named Buckminster Fuller. That concept was "enforced scarcity". This means that the people who sell food in cans have a definite interest in selling you as many cans of food as possible. This, of course, is the way commerce works. Ship more units, make more money, shareholders are happy, and everyone stays employed. Enforced scarcity means that our beautiful world, in fact, has enough food for everyone, but as we know, there's just no money in that so the profit motive is what's driving this scarcity model. That could be a whole long research paper all bad self, but suffice it to say that you should believe your own judgment and senses and have the facts before you decide whether to buy anything, eat anything, retain anything, all of it!

So let's dig into this mystery of the best before date…

Hey… if I'm hungry, I'm hungry… just sayin

The 'best by' date printed on canned foods is not a hard and fast expiration date. It refers strictly to the manufacturer's recommendation for quality, not safety concerns. In theory, as long as cans are in good shape and have been stored out of the right conditions, such as in a dry place between 40 and 70°, the contents should remain safe to use nearly indefinitely. (Nearly means within reason!)

That said, natural chemicals in foods continually react with the metal in the can, and over time, canned foods, taste, texture, and nutritional value will gradually decrease. The question is when manufacturers have an incentive to cite a 'best by' date that is a conservative estimate of when the food may lose quality, but it's possible that some canned foods will last for decades without any dip and taste or in a study, conducted by the National Food Processors Association, and cited in FDA Consumer Magazine, even 100-year-old canned food was found to be remarkably well preserved with a drop in some nutrients, but not others. I am not eating pork and beans that Van de Camp himself put in the can; thanks!

I am sure he was a nice buy, but…. No thanks, Gilbert.

Dates aside, cans with a compromised seal, punctured, rusted through, or deeply dented along any seam should never be used and discarded immediately. These are warning signs of the presence of the rare but dangerous botulism bacteria

Thanks for reading!

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Dr. j

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