Shelf-life of canned food

[GalvestonDuck]

Does everyone know how to check the shelf-life of the canned food in your supplies? I had tons of tuna that I just kept sliding over to the side of the pantry year after year until this past winter when I realized I'd better check the dates. There was about a good year left on them, so I decided to use them and buy new stuff.

It was all Star-Kist tuna and I called the number on the can to find out what the date codes meant. But you can also check the company's website (Hormel, Chicken-of-the-Sea, Spam, Libby's, Dole, etc.). I think most should have some sort of information about their products shelf-life.

Here's what I found on the Star-Kist webpage:

Q. What is the shelf-life of StarKist® Canned Tuna?

A. Unopened StarKist® canned tuna has a recommended shelf-life of up to four years, provided the product has been stored under normal conditions and the can is not dented or damaged.

As of January 2004 we have begun printing a “Best By” Date on cans of StarKist® Tuna. However, for cans without a “Best By” Date, you can use the manufacturing code information to tell whether the can is still within the recommended shelf-life. This code is printed or embossed on the lid or bottom of the can and consists of two rows of letters and numbers. Please look at the second, or bottom row of the code. The bottom row ends with a letter of the alphabet, which stands for the year in which the product was packed. The letter “M” means the tuna was packed in 2003, the letter “L” means the tuna was packed in 2002, and the letter "K" means the tuna was packed in 2001.


Q. What is the shelf-life of the StarKist Flavor Fresh Pouch® and StarKist Tuna Creations™?

A. Unopened StarKist® Tuna in a Pouch has a recommended shelf-life of 3 years, provided the pouch is not damaged and the product has been stored under normal conditions.

As of January 2004 we have begun printing a “Best By” Date on StarKist® Tuna Pouches. However, for pouches without a “Best By” Date, you can use the manufacturing code information to tell whether the product is still within the recommended shelf-life. This code is printed on the back of the pouch, near the middle section, and consists of a series of letters and numbers. The last letter in the code stands for the year in which the product was packed. The letter “M” means the tuna was packed in 2003; and the letter “L” means the tuna was packed in 2002.

Here's a really good site that seems to cover quite a few brand names.

http://www.seidata.com/~rschunk/canexpire.html

[janswizard]

Hi Duck, you might want to try here.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_fnut/HRAP/S ... upstor.htm

[GalvestonDuck]

Hi Duck, you might want to try here.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_fnut/HRAP/S ... upstor.htm

Interesting site, but it gives only 12 months for canned food. I can guarantee I've had stuff for more than 12 months, including the tuna. Never got sick when I ate it.

[zoeyann]

Thanks Duck. This is great info. I went through my cabinets the other day, and was not sure what to keep and what to get rid of.

[SeaBrz_FL]

Great Info! Thanks! I'm passing on to my sister that volunteers at a Food Bank for the homeless in another state. They probably know this, but just in case ....

[Persepone]

You can save canned food for years and years and years. If the can is not damaged, it will not make you sick. What does happen is that the canning process itself does destroy some nutrients, and over time for some foods it loses additional nutritional value--but I suspect that's a matter of degree.

If you ask your grandparents/great grandparents, they will tell you that their mothers canned certain fruits and vegetables so as to have them for several years into the future--and there we are talking home canning.

If you have relatives who lived through the depresssion/WWII, they will all tell you of eating foods canned say in 1938 or 1939 well into the late 1040s and sometimes into the 1950s. (The stuff that lasted that long was stuff no one liked/wanted to eat--it was sort of "emergency" stuff and it got ignored until someone came along who would eat it or until it really was down to that.)

The dating of canned foods and other items really did not even happen in any intelligible way until the 1970s/1980s and the main impetus to do so was (1) some people found out that stuff had been on shelves in stores or warehouses, etc. for 10 years before they bought it and enough people got upset about this and (2) the food processor people found out that people could be convinced to toss out stuff and buy more with dates on the packages. Now the first protects the consumer--but the second is pure marketing.

By the way, Marilyn Vos Savant had an article about expiration dates on vitamins, minerals, etc. She pointed out that whenever you make a claim about an "expiration date" you have to prove that whatever it is will last that long as packaged without significant deterioration. Think about that.

If you make grape jelly, it is reasonable for you to do a "scientific study" to prove that it lasts just fine on the shelves for a year or perhaps even for two years (if the grape harvest fluctuates a lot from year to year). But there would be absolutely no sense to doing a study to see if it would last 3 or 5 or 8 or 20 years--why would a company want to do that? They don't want people to buy something and stick it on the shelf for that long. So just because the study they did allows them to make the claim does NOT mean that it won't last longer--it just means they have not done the scientific study to show that it does.

So yes it is a good idea to "rotate your stock." But no, you don't need to throw out the food because it is beyond the "sell by" or "best good by" date. If the can is not bulged or leaking or something, it's fine. If it is a glass gar that is vacuum sealed (or home canned), listen for the little whoosh of air & pay attention to the safety button if there is one. Of course, if there is a question--and the contents are a low acid food (e.g., vegetables of any sort), boil for 20 minutes BEFORE TASTING if you need to eat the contents. Low acid stuff can give you botulism if not handled that way. Fruit, jams, jellies, etc., on the other hand will not "hurt" you if they are bad. But when in doubt, boil for 20 minutes before tasting or just toss it out.

In general, however, I would not worry about the expiration dates. Their primary purpose is to get you to toss stuff out that you don't need to toss out at all!

[GalvestonDuck]

Well explained, Persepone! I understand much better now.

Now that you've explained it, I don't think I would feel too pressed to toss out canned fruits, veggies, Chef-Boyardee meals, jellies, or soups. But, still, tuna is one I'd have a hard time keeping for years and years. (And this coming from a sushi eater who can eat tuna raw! )

[Persepone]

Aha! But even the tuna manufacturers themselves say the stuff in pouches (let alone cans) is good for a few years if stored properly. And they will tell you that their "best used by" date does not mean that after that date the food will harm you--just that it is not at its "best" anymore....

And what about sardines? Other fish?

I'm not advocating that you hang on to the cans for 10 years--I'm just saying that I've personally eaten stuff that was canned and was that old--and it was okay.

Because I'm OLD, I remember the days when people were not so quick to throw out food. I still have a problem with wasted food personally. But when I was little and went to grandparents' houses or friend's grandparents' houses, I got fed stuff that had been on the shelves for years... we all did--and none of us thought anything of it--the whole purpose of canned food was that it would keep for years!

I would caution that not all "old" practice is good practice. Our food supply has become dangerous in some areas since I was young and learned to cook, etc. Raw and undercooked eggs have become very unsafe! I do NOT make/eat things made with raw or undercooked eggs anymore. Eggs used to be "safe"--not anymore. [The exception: I will eat raw or undercooked eggs from my daughter's pet chickens because we know about the chickens' health, when the eggs were laid, etc.].

Chicken meat is a substance that is no longer as "safe" as it used to be. In the "old days" chickens did not routinely have diseases like salmonella. I'm very careful handling raw chicken/poultry etc. We are very careful of anything touched by faw or partially cooked chicken--and use bleach to wash down any surfaces touched immediately--knives, counter, any plates, etc. In fact, the fork or spatula used to turn the food half way through cooking gets the bleach treatment--we don't use the same one to turn the chicken and to dish it out after cooking!

But I do think we need to use our heads and think about what we eat and how we keep stuff. There is some middle ground between tossing out canned goods after keeping them a relatively short time and totally ignoring questions of food safety.

I actually think I might be more concerned about commercially bottled water than canned food because bottled water is not heated and pressurized, etc. I think. It's more likely they just put it in the bottles and cap them. That does not mean I'd toss out my "old" bottled water, but I might well boil it (or use it to make tea or something else that gets boiled for a while) before using very old bottled water. This is a substance where I'd restock annually for "drinking out of the bottle") and would mark any "old" bottles with a magic marker and reserve them for use where I could boil or for something like washing where I could sanitize with bleach. Note that you can use bleach to sanitize water for drinking--but it tastes sort of nasty--and you need to carefully follow the instructions on how much bleach to how much water--but you can make it taste better by pouring it back and forth several times between containers to aereate it before drinking it.... (Commercial water purification tablets also make the water taste sort of nasty; again, aereating makes it more palatable).

[GalvestonDuck]

So much good info!!! Thank you! (And you're not old!)

And what about sardines? Other fish?

*grimacing* Icky!