[Kartographer]

The steamboat Bertrand was heavily laden with provisions when it set out on
the Missouri River in 1865, destined for the gold mining camps in Fort
Benton, Mont. The boat snagged and swamped under the weight, sinking to the
bottom of the river. It was found a century later, under 30 feet of silt a
little north of Omaha, Neb.

Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied
peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974,
chemists at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) analyzed the
products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food
had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no
microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they
had been when canned more than 100 years earlier.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070509153848/http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00043.html

[Jane Long]

Thanks, Kart. I have a lot of canned goods in my supplies that are due for rotation/discarding.

I’ve also been looking in to dehydrating veggies/meats/fruits. You can store massive quantities in minimal space for MANY years, and lose no nutritional value.

[inpajamas]

So I just need to store my food at the bottom of the Missouri. River

[Boogieman]

Similar story, of 115 year old meat from the 1845 expedition to the arctic, that was opened and fed to rats with no ill effects:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2293&dat=19390430&id=Yc4mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bwIGAAAAIBAJ&pg=988,2417216

[Boogieman]

Oops, that was the 1824 expedition, not 1845.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yeah, but who wants to be the first one to sample them ?

[faucetman]

later