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This man ate ‘expired’ food for a year. Here’s why expiration dates are practically meaningless.
Washington Post ^ | June 17, 2019 | Daron Taylor

Posted on 06/18/2019 3:55:13 PM PDT by EdnaMode

Last year, Mom’s Organic Market founder and chief executive Scott Nash did something many of us are afraid to do: He ate a cup of yogurt months after its expiration date. Then tortillas a year past their expiration date. “I mean, I ate heavy cream I think 10 weeks past date,” Nash said, “and then meat sometimes a good month past its date. It didn’t smell bad. Rinse it off, good to go.” It was all part of his year-long experiment to test the limits of food that had passed its expiration date. In the video above, we interviewed Nash about his experiment and examined where expiration dates come from and what they really mean.

It turns out that the dates on our food labels do not have much to do with food safety. In many cases, expiration dates do not indicate when the food stops being safe to eat — rather, they tell you when the manufacturer thinks that product will stop looking and tasting its best. Some foods, such as deli meats, unpasteurized milk and cheese, and prepared foods such as potato salad that you do not reheat, probably should be tossed after their use-by dates for safety reasons.

Tossing out a perfectly edible cup of yogurt every once in a while does not seem that bad. But it adds up. According to a survey by the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and the National Consumers League, 84 percent of consumers at least occasionally throw out food because it is close to or past its package date, and over one third (37 percent) say they always or usually do so.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Society
KEYWORDS: expirationdate; expirationdates; expiredfood; food; mom; momsorganicmarket; nash; scottnash
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To: EdnaMode

Expired sour cream is......sour?


21 posted on 06/18/2019 4:20:34 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: glasseye
everything else is marketing.

Sadly true. Makes me think those "don't kill that cow" folks have a point. So Much Waste.

22 posted on 06/18/2019 4:21:28 PM PDT by workerbee (America finally has an American president again.)
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To: Tucker39

The US invasion of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945. (My father participated.) So the 1929 C-Ration was 16 years old rather than 15.


23 posted on 06/18/2019 4:21:57 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: yarddog

I have “tin” canned commercial goods that are expired by years. If Can integrity is good and the product inside looks and smells good I have no problem ... I on the other hand have Meat and Fish that “I” canned ... I chunk’em automatic at 3 years, re-use the jars but I don’t even let the pooch have it.
(I could be off + or - 11 Months because I just write the year on the lid, it works for me)

I have Ghee from 2003 and use it every day, have 3 cans left... No Problems (well past expiration date)


24 posted on 06/18/2019 4:23:01 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!)
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To: EdnaMode

The same idea is usually true of a great many medicines.

The DOD and VA a number of years back took millions of doses of supposedly “expired” medicines in their stocks and put them through the most rigorous tests possible. Many were years past their expiration dates.

Most proved to contain as much active active-ingredients as supposedly unexpired medicines. The reason is because most medicines are not bilogically active; they are chemically inert and as long as they are stored in a dark dry place they usually are still good.


25 posted on 06/18/2019 4:24:23 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: hal ogen

***I ate 15 year old oatmeal***

Last time I tried that some of the meal crawled and had developed wings. Same for rice an other grains.


26 posted on 06/18/2019 4:25:16 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: EdnaMode

I have yet to find any ground beef that doesn’t smell funky after it has been in the fridge for 4 or more days.


27 posted on 06/18/2019 4:27:06 PM PDT by be-baw
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To: glasseye

I think this is true about a lot of medicines, too. I use an allergy medicine very infrequently because I don’t want to be caught in ‘rebound effect’; so I don’t buy a lot of it. It seems to be just as effective when it’s several years ‘expired’.

Same thing with aspirin.


28 posted on 06/18/2019 4:27:32 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: hanamizu

Dammit, and I got such a deal....


29 posted on 06/18/2019 4:27:55 PM PDT by Smellin Salt
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To: yarddog

I make it a point to go to the grocery store in the morning to get the discounted meat that, “expires” that day.


30 posted on 06/18/2019 4:29:03 PM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches anything.)
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To: yarddog

Pringles don’t even have an expiration date. Ha.


31 posted on 06/18/2019 4:29:29 PM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: EdnaMode

I once got a great deal on 12 cases of MREs at a gun show. Unbelievable really. I think he just wanted to get rid of them. I got a total of 144 meals for $30.

They were just past the date stamped on the boxes. I actually liked most of them.


32 posted on 06/18/2019 4:30:38 PM PDT by yarddog
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To: EdnaMode

“Guaranteed best when used before” does not mean “spoiled if used after”


33 posted on 06/18/2019 4:33:37 PM PDT by dangus
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To: EdnaMode

34 posted on 06/18/2019 4:35:16 PM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: rhinohunter

Well actually it could be...


35 posted on 06/18/2019 4:35:44 PM PDT by crusher2013
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To: EdnaMode

Your nose and eyes are a much better gage of something “going over” than the expiration dates.


36 posted on 06/18/2019 4:37:15 PM PDT by Vermont Lt (If we get Medicare for all, will we have to show IDs for service?)
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To: outofsalt
I make it a point to go to the grocery store in the morning to get the discounted meat that, “expires” that day.

An excellent tip for budget minded folks. Especially for higher priced beef cuts! I've scored many a great meal on the grill from keeping an eye peeled. Unfortunately..., it depends upon whether the meat dept employees really do their jobs! Some stores just wind up dumping their expired meat in the dumpster since their employees didn't control their stock!

37 posted on 06/18/2019 4:39:16 PM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: Wuli
"Throw away any unused tetracycline (all cycline antibiotics) when it expires or when it is no longer needed. Do not take this medicine after the expiration date on the label has passed. Expired tetracycline can cause a dangerous syndrome resulting in damage to the kidneys." (Fanconi syndrome) https://www.drugs.com/tetracycline.html
38 posted on 06/18/2019 4:39:37 PM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches anything.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

I think any bugs that might have been in my package died years earlier. LOL


39 posted on 06/18/2019 4:41:10 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: ExSES

Fancy restaurants sell dry “aged beef” at a big markup!


40 posted on 06/18/2019 4:41:12 PM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches anything.)
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