Quote :

"To account for all manner of consumer, manufacturers imagine how the laziest people with the most undesirable kitchens might store and handle their food, then test their products based on these criteria."

http://www.slate.com/id/2244249/

Who religiously follow expiration dates? I know I'm a fan of the sniff test myself.

2/19/2010 9:50:11 PM

I do.

The wife, not so much.

2/19/2010 9:52:18 PM

^^ i do. although i'll take my chances if the date is rubbed out.

2/19/2010 9:54:24 PM

I usually follow expiration dates on milk, I've been burned too many times (and all milk smells terrible to me from the carton, that little ring of crusty milk smells the same as curdled imo)

Other things, not really.

I did throw away a can of chunky cheesy beef and potato soup I was going to eat a few months ago because I looked at the exp date and it said 2000.

2/19/2010 9:58:28 PM

^ That was probably a good call

I threw out some Bailey's Tuesday because when I poured it it was chunky

2/19/2010 10:00:39 PM

Acquire Food Poisoning

2/19/2010 10:04:41 PM

^^it smells like shit after about 3 or so days after the expiration date, that is the longest I will go with milk.

2/19/2010 10:11:00 PM

most of the time on food.

never on medication.

2/19/2010 10:12:31 PM

I ignore most expiration dates

2/19/2010 10:14:09 PM

The worst is pouring out some grated cheese onto smthg you cooked and then a nice green chunk of cheese falls out. Gross.

Also I don't much enjoy taking a bite out of a sandwich and then finding a fuzzy green half eaten splotch on the bread.

2/19/2010 10:36:50 PM

Expiration dates are just a suggestion.

2/19/2010 10:38:30 PM

if that shit is expired I don't get anywhere near it

2/19/2010 10:44:53 PM

I generally do a sniff test.

But an expiration date is always a nice excuse to throw out something you don't quite like. Like a salad dressing that tastes just slightly off to me...it's still "good" and it costs real money so I keep it, but the instant that expiration date passes, it's in trash even though I know it'll probably keep for 6 more months.

2/19/2010 11:03:02 PM

Quote :

"most of the time on food. never on medication. "

Medication typically doesn't become unsafe, just less effective.

2/19/2010 11:04:42 PM

Quote :

"Acquire Food Poisoning"

haha I was thinking the same thing

but I completely ignore expiration dates

2/19/2010 11:43:40 PM

manufacturers are racist

2/20/2010 12:03:34 AM

had a bunch of people over a few weeks ago and hotcurlz24 tried to throw away the Parmesan cheese saying it was expired..................omg everyone in unison said Parmesan cheese does not expire

The bottle said it was expired but it still taste good.

2/20/2010 12:13:26 AM

I use the sniff test on most stuff. Some cheeses and sandwich meat does seem to go bad quickly after expiration date though. They probably put the date fairly close to expiration date to get max shelf life on those things though.

2/20/2010 12:25:13 AM

Sniff test, although occasionally I will run a series of tests, just so I have an excuse to use my Erlenmeyer flask.

2/20/2010 12:26:27 AM

milk, totally by expiration date.

everything else, im weary but will eat it if it seems fine

2/20/2010 12:28:20 AM

canned goods get tossed about a year after the marked date

milk stays for 3-4 days after unless I can smell it from arms length when I open it.

other dairy like cheese or sour creme always ends up moldy like a month before the printed expiration

2/20/2010 12:31:09 AM

I never follow the milk's expiration date. I usually do the smell and taste test.

2/20/2010 12:32:10 AM

Quote :

"I usually follow expiration dates on milk, I've been burned too many times (and all milk smells terrible to me from the carton, that little ring of crusty milk smells the same as curdled imo) "

uh, oh don't let OPEII see this thread.

Quote :

"i hate it when people throw away perfectly good eggs and milk just because of the expiration date, or the floating bullshit. eggs and milk are two things that smell very bad (sour) if they go bad. they have hardly any smell when they are good. forget expiration dates... that's just the product of greed and paranoia about "omg it has germs you will get sick". i have kept fresh milk sometimes up to 5 days beyond the expiration date, and it has been fine, but sometimes it has gone bad 2 or 3 days after it, and sometimes on the date, and once or twice even a day before. you just gotta open and sniff. now eggs, you gotta crack them open into a bowl and sniff them if you suspect they might have gone bad. forget the bullshit about floating. my wife firmly believes in it, and many many times she has done the test with negative results and then i have opened the eggs and they have been just perfect. and there are other times when you get fresh eggs and you confidently crack one into a pan and it comes out all watery and bad smelling. so yeah, the floating and date things are bs. think long and hard about why it floats... yeah, that doesn't necessarily mean the egg has gone bad. and yogurt? i routinely keep that a few weeks to a MONTH beyond the 'expiration' date, and it has been just perfect. the good bacteria in it keep good. and with all sorts of other foods as well i don't pay much attention to the 'expiration' date. and a lot of times, it is not even an 'expiration' date, but a "best by" date. think about what that means. either way, i just sniff everything to tell me what has gone bad inside my house at a given moment, days or weeks or months after i bought something... the manufacturers can never know it for sure. think about it, expiration dates on salt or sugar? that's the biggest nonsense in the world. USE YOUR MIND. STOP WASTING YOUR MONEY. STOP THROWING AWAY GOOD FOOD THAT CAN FEED POOR/STARVING PEOPLE. STOP THROWING AWAY EARTH'S RESOURCES AND GOD'S BOUNTY. STOP FALLING PREY TO COMPANIES' GREED AND THE GERM OBSESSED CULTURE. OPEN/CRACK AND SNIFF. "

Quote :

"bacteria ARE IN EVERYTHING. people need to realize that and then perhaps they will not freak out. unless you bleached/sanitized something for several minutes, there are bacteria in/on it. it is when they multiply and reach large numbers, they can make the food go bad. and also, bacteria can get in to a food... from where you ask? from the surroundings, from touch, whatever. and the egg shell is permeable to bacteria... but yeah, that's not the main reason they go bad. it is because eggs, just like any other food, already have bacteria in it. "

Quote :

"you are the one who said it is a 2-phase process, so you implied for some period it is fine, and then suddenly, it is bad after that. look, the process is not linear, it is not 2-phase, it is a continuous process, but i would suggest looking up a bacterial growth curve on the internet. it is an exponential curve. at the beginning, the process is too slow to affect us, and then the number of bacteria explodes as the curve suddenly becomes steep. and it has happened to me many times. at night i have drunk from the container, and in the morning, the container is bloated from released gas and the milk smells very sour. only things we have to judge are our noses and mouths. dates mean nothing. the lag phase is where its at. but of course, you can taste the changes even there!"

Quote :

"'eventually'? NO SHIT IT WILL EVENTUALLY GO BAD. just not one week before expiration... but you are just a superhuman who can taste sourness in milk one week before expiration. p.s. and what you quoted says the unpleasant taste and odor are AFTER SPOILAGE, which according to you, takes place ONE WEEK BEFORE SPOILAGE, because you are a superhuman. as i said, pop the lid and sniff. "

Quote :

"by anyone's standards? you mean by your standards. because no one else can DETECT A SOUR TASTE ONE WEEK BEFORE EXPIRATION. as i said, you are a superhuman. and also as i said, you are already drinking processed milk, NOT FRESH. you want FRESH milk, you look at these pages: http://www.realmilk.com http://www.rawmilk.org http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/ but of course, you will come up with some other superhuman excuse. that's ok, you drink what you want and throw away what you want... your body, your money, your choice. "

Quote :

"what does can't or tolerate mean? what does 'undrinkable' mean? DOES IT TASTE DIFFERENT TO YOU? IF SO, JUST DIFFERENT, OR DIFFERENT IN A BAD WAY? why are you evading questions? and if you want fresh milk, drink FRESH MILK. you think the milk you drink is fresh? it has been homogenized and heated, changing its taste and texture. that's not fresh, that's PROCESSED. http://www.realmilk.com that's FRESH milk. don't throw around a word without knowing its meaning. the milk you have when you first open the container, and the milk in it 4 or 5 days later IS THE SAME MILK. same taste, same composition. equally fresh/unfresh. jesus. "

http://brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=575146&page=1

2/20/2010 12:38:33 AM

oh yeah, I forgot about eggs. I've used eggs that were like a year old without realizing it.
No one died from eating that cake, but I remember to hard boil and eat whatever if left over when I get them to bake now.

2/20/2010 12:46:15 AM

how could you even let milk go bad. drink it by the GALLON$.

2/20/2010 12:49:23 AM

2/20/2010 12:56:53 AM

Quote :

"Expiration dates are just a suggestion."

Pretty much.
It's mostly so you can't sue....

2/20/2010 2:04:20 AM

^x5 lol milk is serious business for him.

2/20/2010 2:11:29 AM

Everyone should already know this.

Whatever. Thanks for putting money into the economy, scaredycats.

PS: Milk don't come with an expiration date

Quote :

"milk, totally by expiration date."

So, if milk goes bad before this mythical expiration date, it's safe to assume that you'd still drink it.

After all, date stamped > common sense

2/20/2010 2:45:18 AM

Milk doesn't expire. You just have to use it for something besides cereal. The best biscuits are made from "expired" milk. Mmmmmmm

2/20/2010 7:49:48 AM

mambagrl, thanks for posting my views on this from the other thread.

You saved me time and energy

P.S. Just the other day I opened a yogurt container which had expired 2 months ago. It was still good... no difference in taste. As I explained, yogurt doesn't really go bad even a month to 2 months after the 'expiration' date. The good bacteria beat down the bad ones for a long long time.

2/20/2010 7:59:50 AM

i've ate stuff way way way past their expiration dates....we found some muffin mix at our cabin that expired in '02....ate it fall '09, baked to perfection

eggs...usually never make it past 2 days in my fridge before being devoured & milk I don't buy

2/20/2010 8:08:30 AM

SMELL

IT

FIRST

2/20/2010 8:51:45 AM

Quote :

"Medication typically doesn't become unsafe, just less effective."

hence the reason I said I never follow the expiration date....

2/20/2010 9:32:37 AM

^^^^ I have definitely opened yogurt that was bad. But it was also left out of the fridge for almost a week

2/20/2010 6:15:53 PM

im a HUDE fan of the almost rotten meat section at Fool Lion myself ..... How bout yall?

2/20/2010 8:04:22 PM

You're a what?

2/20/2010 8:05:57 PM

HUGE fan sorry lil' Buzzed!

2/20/2010 8:38:43 PM

haha, everyone is making the erroneous assumption that the contents of the bottle is what has expired. Lots of times the case itself is what has expired.

For instance cola-type drinks never expire if stored in glass, but when stored in plastic the expiration date indicates that after this date you're much more likely to have chemicals leech from the plastic into your drink, or in some case after the point of time where the FDA claims toxicity levels are no longer safe (as in they've been leeching since day 1, it's just safe until past time T.)

2/20/2010 9:52:51 PM

I get your point, but I have never seen cola-type drinks sold in plastic containers.

2/21/2010 3:37:47 AM

I understand your concepts. But my body has adapted to deal with toxins

2/21/2010 3:58:15 AM

fuck that


I throw away shit 2 weeks before expiration just to show off my benjamins

2/21/2010 4:07:47 AM

Glass Coke ftw

2/21/2010 6:37:48 AM

Quote :

"For instance cola-type drinks never expire if stored in glass, but when stored in plastic the expiration date indicates that after this date you're much more likely to have chemicals leech from the plastic into your drink, or in some case after the point of time where the FDA claims toxicity levels are no longer safe (as in they've been leeching since day 1, it's just safe until past time T.)"

Diet coke in a can definitely goes bad

I scrounged up one at my grandfather's once that was years beyond the expiration date. It was beyond awful. The only way it resembled soda was the carbonation

Quote :

"I get your point, but I have never seen cola-type drinks sold in plastic containers."

I thought you did some college in the US?

2/21/2010 3:13:10 PM

u going to risk ur health to save 30c (how u make a cent sign? {?•ªT???9i find out later) 99% of the time that food b ok past the date. but if the food got contaminated w a dangerous microbe somewhere along the line, they be exponentiating. u going to get toxic shock and die trying to lick the plate. that said, I expect that printed date is more about quality than triage. I just giving u something to think about, good luck with that

2/21/2010 4:45:37 PM

Fantastic engrish.

2/21/2010 4:47:51 PM

Quote :

"THEY BE EXPONENTIATING"

2/21/2010 4:48:51 PM

Quote :

"LICK THAT PLATE"

3/4/2010 7:45:31 AM

my freshmen year my roommate would throw out milk if it was two days before the expiration date...really annoying

Last year my roommates would throw away my bread if it was past the expiration date...I got very annoyed by this

3/4/2010 8:42:46 AM

Quote :

"I know I'm a fan of the sniff test myself."

this applies to every facet of my life

3/4/2010 8:45:16 AM