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Canned food shelf life.

Back in June I drank two cans of Holsten Pills that were nine months past their date but still fine. And , last week I had a can of beef stew that was dated Best Before April and that was fine too.
 
Apparently, one of the problems that the old Polar explores faced was that the tins were soldered up with lead, which caused them a problem or two with lead poisoning. So if you do decided to open up that old can i shouldn't bother, as i don't know when they stopped using lead to seal the cans.
 
Back in June I drank two cans of Holsten Pills that were nine months past their date but still fine. And , last week I had a can of beef stew that was dated Best Before April and that was fine too.
drunk so 5 years 'out of date' fizzy pop a while back and no problems other than the dregs had a few bits where some of the fruitiness had dropped out of solution.
 
Apparently, one of the problems that the old Polar explores faced was that the tins were soldered up with lead, which caused them a problem or two with lead poisoning. So if you do decided to open up that old can i shouldn't bother, as i don't know when they stopped using lead to seal the cans.

That was the Franklin Expedition of 1845 - very early canning technology. You would know a can from that period if you saw it and it would be brave indeed to sample the contents.

Franklin's lost expedition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paradoxically, some of Franklin's crew are better preserved than his tinned food was. The link to how the autopsies were eventually performed is worth a click.

JOHN TORRINGTON MUMMY 1846 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 
Many of the old and bold who were serving in the late 50,s and early , had the pleasure of eating vintage 1940,s reconstituted dried
whalemeat ,minced and served in rissoles ,pies , hotpots and cottage pie. Another favourite was A10 size tins of meat and grey potatoes
dated pre 1940, heated and mashed together formed into patties , made a great burger of sorts, cold made a great icehockey puck, many of the
rests and remains of WW2 rations were still being served up in ST Omer in 1961
 
Don't confuse 'Best Before' with 'Use By'. Foods which have been preserved with heat, chemicals or by dehydration are usually perfectly fine for many years after their Best Before dates have passed. A word of warning though - even though tinned food is perfectly edible for years on end, the contents of tins which have been dented can deteriorate much more quickly.
 
Thanks but i meant that I would not throw OOD cans until they became convex and indeed after a quick sniff test!

I know, just trying to wind you up. But it's well worth remembering that if a thing smells bad, it's usually spoilage type bacteria and not harmful..it's the sneaky ******* bacteria that doesn't pong at all that kills you, even if it doesn't, you wish it had. :)
 
At the threat of war in 1939 my mother in law stockpiled tins of bully and spam,after the war 2 tins of bully remained which was used at the VJ day party,,no one was ill after....
 
My tin was also somewhat distended and the stink that came out when it was pierced was something else. Under instructions from the wife and brats it had to be triple wrapped in plastic bags and a bin liner before I was allowed to stick it in the fridge.

The taste was frighteningly strong and the family was so disgusted that I got the lot to myself which was nice.

You need to change your avatar.

Try this...

View attachment 54949

You dirty old man!!
 

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