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Do unopened cans last until their "sell by" date?

post #1 of 12
4/8/11 at 10:06am
Thread Starter 
I always look for deals on cans of food, and right now I am currently sitting on a 2 month supply (this is my first stockpile, as I have been weeding out the cats' favorite brands over the past few months by buying a little at a time of different brands). I was looking at the cans, and they all have sell by dates of 2013 or thereabouts. Will these cans really last that long? I would love to be able to stockpile months and months of wet food if there is an especially good deal on a tried and true favorite like soulistic chicken, but I don't want to have tons of cat food that has gone bad just because pet food companies choose to put the same sell by dates that most bottles of water have.
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post #2 of 12
4/8/11 at 10:37am
If canned and stored properly (not anywhere that they'd be exposed to high heat like an unheated/cooled warehouse in the summer or garage) they should last a bit beyond that. Remember it's a sell by date not an expiration date.
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post #3 of 12
4/8/11 at 10:49am
Most tinned foods (human and pet) last well beyond the sell by date. Soups are safe for a couple of years, tinned veg maybe a year, tinned meats probably two year but juices and fruits don't make it beyond a few months.......so you will be safe for a long time
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post #4 of 12
4/8/11 at 11:57am
Setting those dates can be expensive, as you actually have to test the food. Most don't bother testing beyond a year or two, so they know that up to that time, its good.

Voila, sell by "XYZ". But it may be good for ten years, you just aren't going to see them test a product that long, as they'd have to retest every time there is a formula change.
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post #5 of 12
4/8/11 at 2:29pm
This is exactly one of my pet peeves, or, well, something I just can't figure out here in the US (I moved from Europe a bit over a year and a half ago).

All foods here say 'best before' or 'sell before'. So, okay. I am glad that the retailers will know when to get rid of their merchandise. But what does that tell me, the end consumer? Do I have to perform a research for each and every item I buy? :/

Another unknown piece of information is an expiration date for an item that's already opened. Like, a European packaged item will let you know how long you are supposed to keep it in the fridge once it's been opened. Here? No idea. So most things, unfortunately, I end up throwing away.
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post #6 of 12
4/8/11 at 2:41pm
Most American food will tell you.

"Best Before" is more common than sell-by dates, and most meats and cheeses and the like will say "use within one week of opening".

Of course, I have opened cheese thats been in there for months and is still perfectly good. Generally when food is bad, it smells, tastes, or looks off. If it doesn't, I eat it. Businesses tend to be way conservative on their estimates, to avoid legal ramifications I think.
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post #7 of 12
4/8/11 at 3:13pm
Canned foods, theoretically, last forever. There may be some difference in texture or flavor if it's too old, but it should be safe indefinitely if the can is whole and undented (dents can allow air in).
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post #8 of 12
4/8/11 at 4:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
If canned and stored properly (not anywhere that they'd be exposed to high heat like an unheated/cooled warehouse in the summer or garage) they should last a bit beyond that. Remember it's a sell by date not an expiration date.
Excellent post.

Too many people think "best before" means "expired" and "inedible/consumable" which results in 10's of thousands of pounds of perfectly good food being thrown into our land fills. That just bugs me so much because there are so many people in this world that go hungry.
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post #9 of 12
4/8/11 at 9:04pm
That's a valid point and I don't consider 'best before' or 'sell by' to be expiration dates, but I still don't know how long foods are supposed to sit in the fridge once opened.

What do I do with an open package of deli meats? What happend with a bottle of ketchup? Some pasta sauce? Milk and juice containers say nothing either. Once I see mold growing on my food, it's already too late.

There are no instructions on my cat's foods either.
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post #10 of 12
4/8/11 at 9:17pm
Its voluntary, and the brands I buy all say it on the packaging.

For canned food, its again voluntary, but Wellness and a couple others have said the opened cans are good in the fridge for three days.

I'd keep it in the can, and just put the can in as small a tupperware as it can possibly fit, then burp it, otherwise it will dehydrate in the cold dry fridge.
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post #11 of 12
4/8/11 at 11:08pm
For humans, refrigerating food in the can isn't recommended. I don't know if it's a food safety issue or a flavor issue. Either way, if you're going to bother with a Tupperware, you might as well just put the food directly in the container.

For human foods, for acidic stuff like pasta sauce, mustard and ketchup, I'll use it if it tastes OK, regardless of the date on the container. Milk and juice, too--they start tasting "off" long before they become dangerous. I'm more cautious with deli meats, because I once got food poisoning from 10-day-old deli turkey (sliced from the deli, not pre-packaged). It wasn't fun, so now I only buy enough for one or two servings. I'll eat week-old leftovers, but only a week. After that the dogs get it. Most of the advice you find from various sources tends on the cautious side for legal reasons, which means you waste a lot of food. So just use your own senses to figure it out.
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post #12 of 12
4/9/11 at 6:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kittica View Post
That's a valid point and I don't consider 'best before' or 'sell by' to be expiration dates, but I still don't know how long foods are supposed to sit in the fridge once opened.

What do I do with an open package of deli meats? What happend with a bottle of ketchup? Some pasta sauce? Milk and juice containers say nothing either. Once I see mold growing on my food, it's already too late.

There are no instructions on my cat's foods either.
Use your eyes and nose and mouth. If it looks ok, and smells ok and tastes ok... then it's ok.

I typically have yogurt in my fridge for weeks beyond the "best before date". Meats are a different thing altogether. They spoil quickly, but you can see and smell that. If the deli meat smells "off" from when it was fresh, or has taken on a different colour, toss it.

Sauces such as ketchup have vinegar in them which is a natural preservative and will last in your fridge for months and months after opened. Again, use you senses. There is no hard and fast rule other than f it looks ok, and smells ok and tastes ok... then it's ok."
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