Does expiration date matter?

That's the sell-by date. Canned food stays good for a long time (basically forever if air doesn't get in. But flavor and texture will suffer with age). I wouldn't feed canned food that's 10 years expired, but I'd be OK with one or two years past that date.

I did notice that canned food expirations dates are closer than those of dry food. It's kind of alarming how long dry food lasts! I've seen some dated 5 years from now.

People have opened and tested canned food that is up to 50 years old and it has been OK to eat! Not that I would do that, though . Seriously, up to at least a year after the date on the can, assuming there are no dents or water damage, and that it has been kept in reasonable condition, should be fine. I agree that I would be more worried about dry food.

Are you sure its the sell by date?   

 

These should be considered "quality" rather than "safety" dates, as the food may be sterile, however, the quality of the food inside the can does degrade over time.     Luckily meat is a low-acid food, but the USDA indicates it should still be used within 2-5 years of manufacture or the color, texture, and flavor will be poor as while its sealed from bacteria the acids still alter the food inside the can.

It makes sense since the food is dry and therefor won't degrade in quality while packaged like the wet which is more or less constantly marinating in its own juices.  

 

One thing of note though is that I believe those dates count for while the bag is still hygienically sealed, since once opened to the air oxidation of the fats will naturally occur.   Shredded cheese often has a really long use-by date, but once you open the package you're really supposed to use it within a week.     That's one unfortunate thing about my autofeeders is that its not perfectly sealed, but my home stays at 45% humidity and below 78oF even during the summer so I'm not too worried.  Just as an added precaution though, after filling the reservoir I seal the lid to the container with black electrical tape so exposure is minimized.

Uh.... oops.  I'm surprised I'm not dead.  Of course my butter has been expired for about a month but I'm still using it, too.

How soon are you going to use it? It may start to lose nutritional quality after that date but I doubt it'll lose so much as to be unsafe, as long as it's used within a year or so.

Well, yeah, all "expiration dates" are assuming the package is unopened. . .just try to keep open canned food for 2 years from date of manufacture!

Wait a second... why does the label say cheddar cheese, but there's blue cheese inside.  Oh well.  Nomnomnom! 

 

I believe the date stamped on the bottom of the cans is the "best by" date. My daughter is a manager at Petco and when the can's reach that date they throw them out I tell her to bring them home to me and I will feed them to my feral's (within a two month period though) The date is stamped on the can to tell the consumer that they are guaranteeing the can to be good until the end of that month and year. I personally would not feed my six any wet food past that "best by" date. With my luck lately, they would all get sick .....

I once bought a fowl ordered can chicken from Natural life. It wasn't suppose expire until three months after I bought it. But it was bad. I took it back, open can and all. Evidence. Maybe it depends on the heat and the freezing conditions too. I never did buy another can of that. Meuzette put a thumbs down on that one