Out of date food.

[Lucy52]

I went to cook dinner tonight and was going to use up the fresh kale. Unfortunately this was on the turn and so I threw it out and looked in the cupboard for something to use instead. While at it I thought to check the dates on the tins. At the back there was a pack of four tins of baked beans, use by June 20. No problem I thought, I opened a can and they looked OK, I will eat them up this week. I emptied the whole can out into some Tupperware and rinsed the can out. Yuck, Look inside the can, the inside coating was gone. I may have survived but don't relish a jippy tummy or slow death come to that, so the whole lot went in the bin.

It's Friday I think I will have fish and chips with mushy peas instead.

 

[wwalsh]

The expiry date is usually for the lining of the tinplate that forms the can.

 

[nortada]

Hi Lucy,

How long had these tins been in the locker - weeks, months, years

Surprised the tin went so manky so shortly after the use by date.

The Armed Forces use tinned compo rations, which are good for 10 years and are still usable after 20???

 

[Lucy52]

The expiry date is usually for the lining of the tinplate that forms the can.

So I found out, the food might be alright to eat but the taste tainted. Food spoilage rather than poisonous.

Hi Lucy,

How long had these tins been in the locker - weeks, months, years

Surprised the tin went so manky so shortly after the use by date.

The Armed Forces use tinned compo rations, which are good for 10 years and are still usable after 20‼???

The reason I posted was the short time after the use by date the tins had gone manky. I would have thought they would have been OK only three month late. I had them in the cupboard for about a year. (Sainsburys)
It would be worthwhile checking food dates occasionally.

The Army test there tins, or the supplier does, and re-dates them every now and again. The stew tends to get binned though. In the dark who knows what you are eating, you are a soldier anyway.

 

[Boathook]

That is unusual for tins. Possibly a faulty batch of tins? I've opened and used tin contents a good year after expiry and the tins look like new inside.

 

[colind3782]

I've eaten stuff out of tins that are years out of date with no issues and no obvious deterioration of the tin lining.

 

[GHA]

Onboard think you'll find that the date code is........

 

[HissyFit]

Sell By:- Date on long lived/non perishable items used as a stock control guide to retailers.
Best Before:- Some deterioration soon after date, but still edible. Eggs are a good example: they won't make the best fried eggs but are still good for hollandaise sauce.
Use By: There will be deterioration in the edibility soon after the date, e.g. lettuce. Some manufacturers may put a short use by date on, to get you to hurry up and eat the stuff so that you'll go out and buy more. Just store well and use your common.

 

[HissyFit]

Yuck, Look inside the can, the inside coating was gone. I may have survived but don't relish a jippy tummy or slow death come to that, so the whole lot went in the bin. View attachment 99474

Just as a matter of curiosity: how are your anodes?

 

[Lucy52]

Boat anodes on the outside, tins on the inside, plastic hull in between. No beans outside. Removed a brass seacock from the engine inlet, did away with the pme with bronze fittings earthed. Spaghetti to be fixed.
Never heard them called anodes before.

I was very surprised the tins were like that on the inside, pristine on the outside.

 

[capnsensible]

Are anodes better than bnodes?

 

[peteK]

Brought a tin of beans off the boat that was dated 2016 and ate them for tea,nothing wrong with them.

 

[Aquaboy]

I've come to the conclusion baked beans don't keep very well, I've dug the "spare" can out off the emergence locker after only a few months and they tasted sour. still ate them obviously. I don't think they like being shook around either. Years ago I carried some while camping on a motorbike. They were off after a couple of weeks.

 

[Lucy52]

I think the tomato sauce is acidic which may cause a problem with the cans.

 

[Yngmar]

We've eaten cans 3 years expired or more and never had one like that. Sure, a bit of rust on the outside, but immaculate inside. Obviously sniff and inspect before cooking. If it smells funny or calls you "mama", don't eat it.

Most cans have an inner plastic coating, if that got damaged by a faulty filling machine or damaged after (bashed around and dented in the bilge), the food can get at the metal and corrode it. Or as someone said, it may have been a faulty batch or the wrong type of can for the food.

We store ours in plastic baskets in the bilge to keep them from knocking around.

 

[Lucy52]

We store ours in plastic baskets in the bilge to keep them from knocking around.

A plastic basket is a good idea There were four cans all the same inside, undamaged, still in the supermarket plastic wrap. So yes I was surprised, and yes, I might have been able to eat them but for about £2 I thought it better to bin them.

 

[greeny]

A plastic basket is a good idea There were four cans all the same inside, undamaged, still in the supermarket plastic wrap. So yes I was surprised, and yes, I might have been able to eat them but for about £2 I thought it better to bin them.

You did the right thing. Many years ago my wife gave my young son half a tin of spaghetti hoops and saved the other half in the fridge for a future day. Because of this she didn't see the damage to the tins internal coating low down in the tin. He spent the next 4 days in hospital and best part of a week at home recovering. Serious food poisoning of some description. That tin was not out of date but the internal coating was damaged. Having said that, I often eat out of date tins on the boat and have had no problem. I do check the tin internals every time though because of what happened.