FOOD Food Storage: 7 yr old canned Ham still good

D

Double_A

TB Fanatic
So as any good prepper I've been rotating canned food.

Unfortunately I found four 16oz canned hams that got hidden away. I mark all my cans with month/year of purchase and these were marked Oct 2002. Made by Celebrity and factory marked EXPR 0117-2007. All of my food is stored in normal temps for here (we don't have cool basements) meaning as high as 105F in the summer and low as 30F in the winter

After finishing up some potatoes w/onions this morning I cut the ham into half inch slices and fried it up in it's own juices.

Taste and texture were just fine. i'll do the three other cans over the next month or so and buy some more.

Just though you might want to know. This is consistent with previous canned goods I've bought they will keep good even a few years after their "best by" date.
 
NBCsurvivor

NBCsurvivor

Has No Life - Lives on TB
that's pretty cool D_A!

I was just thinking about my Dak Hams the other night and wondering if they were still good. Not 7 years old, but pushing 3 or so years. This gives me a much needed confidence boost where that is concerned now.

:)
 
C

Copter Doctor

Inactive
EXCELLENT information.

What are 'normal' expected shelf lives for different foods? Anyone know where to go to get this information? I no longer have access to the Army Veterinary service.
 
Zulu Cowboy

Zulu Cowboy

Keep It Real...
A few months ago I opened a can of spam that I had purchased back in 1999..
I figured 'what the hell'...and fried some up to put on a sandwich.

It tasted good to me!

Consequently, I don't pay much attention to expiration dates.

Just use common sense...if the can is bulging...or the contents have a strange odor? :shr: throw it away...
but otherwise, I'm eating it.

Zulu Cowboy
 
Volleyball Granny

Volleyball Granny

Inactive
Years ago, I had a conversation with the manager of a local grocery store. He gave me the following information:
  • The expiration dates on cans are a marketing issue, not a food-safety issue. They were 'invented' to make people throw away old cans and buy new ones. Additionally, he said that, growing up as an Army brat, his family routinely ate food (during the 60's) that had been canned for the soldiers in WW II. He told me to ignore the date and look for signs of spoilage--rust, broken seals, dents, and bulging cans.
  • Expiration dates on dairy products are supposed to indicate the last day the store can sell the product and it still be good at home for five more days.
  • Expiration dates on frozen foods are similar to the dates on canned food. Watch for signs of defrosting/refreezing and freezer burn, but the food should still be safe past its date.
  • Eggs are held in warehouses for up to 16 weeks before they are put on the grocery store shelves. Their expiration dates are a joke. Still, when buying eggs, look for the freshest date. However, if you plan to boil the eggs and need to shell them soon, look for the oldest eggs because they are easier to shell.
That's just what he told me...back in the '80's. I'm not at all surprised that your ham is still good. Dates are really good for FIFO purposes, but not much else in professionally canned foods. (For home canned, I'd pay more attention to the dates.) We're talking food safety here, not maximum nutritional impact...keep that in mind.
 
O

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
Canned food can spoil even while it is still in date. I found a bulging can of meat still in date. I don't know what was going on inside that can and didn't open it to find out!
 
D

Double_A

TB Fanatic
Volleyball Granny said:
Years ago, I had a conversation with the manager of a local grocery store. He gave me the following information:
  • The expiration dates on cans are a marketing issue, not a food-safety issue. They were 'invented' to make people throw away old cans and buy new ones. Additionally, he said that, growing up as an Army brat, his family routinely ate food (during the 60's) that had been canned for the soldiers in WW II. He told me to ignore the date and look for signs of spoilage--rust, broken seals, dents, and bulging cans.
  • Expiration dates on dairy products are supposed to indicate the last day the store can sell the product and it still be good at home for five more days.
  • Expiration dates on frozen foods are similar to the dates on canned food. Watch for signs of defrosting/refreezing and freezer burn, but the food should still be safe past its date.
  • Eggs are held in warehouses for up to 16 weeks before they are put on the grocery store shelves. Their expiration dates are a joke. Still, when buying eggs, look for the freshest date. However, if you plan to boil the eggs and need to shell them soon, look for the oldest eggs because they are easier to shell.
That's just what he told me...back in the '80's. I'm not at all surprised that your ham is still good. Dates are really good for FIFO purposes, but not much else in professionally canned foods. (For home canned, I'd pay more attention to the dates.) We're talking food safety here, not maximum nutritional impact...keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that extra info! It confirms a lot of what I suspected. The storing of eggs is an eye opener!
 
Bad Hand

Bad Hand

Veteran Member
A while back I read about a family that found some can goods that their grandmother had canned 70 years ago. They took some of the canned food in for testing just to see if it was still good. The food was fine. As long as the cans are sealed and not bulging the food should be good.

They found the wreck of a steam ship that was hauling supplies to western forts over 150 years ago. In the cargo were sealed barrels of salt pork that were still good.

As for freezer burn isn't that like freeze dried food? Didn't the survivors of the plane wreck in the Andes freeze dry the meat that they removed from the dead?
 
Pass Go

Pass Go

Deceased
I'm pretty skeptical when it comes to subjecting food to the "sniff test," not that I abide by expiration dates.

First, sniff.

Second, are the cat and dog interested in whatever it is I'm opening?

Third, take small taste and evaluate.

I have seen canned hams come home from the store that were bad twice.

I should also mention that I've had food poisoning, but not from canned goods. After that experience it makes one wary.
 
D

Double_A

TB Fanatic
Pass Go said:
I'm pretty skeptical when it comes to subjecting food to the "sniff test," not that I abide by expiration dates.

First, sniff.

Second, are the cat and dog interested in whatever it is I'm opening?

Third, take small taste and evaluate.

I have seen canned hams come home from the store that were bad twice.

I should also mention that I've had food poisoning, but not from canned goods. After that experience it makes one wary.
Click to expand...

I'll bet. I do much the same as you. And would also like to point out that a 7 yr old ham that cost me $1.99 is absolutely not worth it. if it seems like anything is off or wrong. ESPECIALLY when the SHTF and there may not be medical treatment.
 
B

blueridge

...
IIRC, the expiration dates are also intended to provide guidance on having the product color, taste, texture, smell & overall appeal acceptable to the customer. These qualities gradually deteriorate over time.

Suspect that in general, the actual SAFEty aspect of the food is the last quality to expire - and probably some time after the exp. date indicated.

That said, the speed at which the qualities noted above will deteriorate will depend on the type of food and how it was stored (heat, light, etc.)

BTW, Double_A's point, above, is well taken, as is the dog/cat interest & taste test. Cats seem fussier in general.
 
G

gillmanNSF

Veteran Member
Yup, thanks for the info. Been eating a lot of "expired" stuff lately. I always wonder when I open an old can. Used an old can of beef and beef stew not too long ago and it was good. Now, the 10# cans of pork and beans have been around for a long time, like since 2000/2001, and recently used 4 cans to make up a batch of baked beans with onions, bacon, brown sugar and spices for a church function. People were raving about my beans! Froze what was left and will be serving them up on cheesy nachos this weekend at another church function, that, plus now I got more room for newer stash.
 
Pass Go

Pass Go

Deceased
Now, the 10# cans of pork and beans have been around for a long time, like since 2000/2001, and recently used 4 cans to make up a batch of baked beans with onions, bacon, brown sugar and spices for a church function. People were raving about my beans!

Gil, yer not supposed to experiment on the congregation.
 
G

gillmanNSF

Veteran Member
Pass Go said:
Now, the 10# cans of pork and beans have been around for a long time, like since 2000/2001, and recently used 4 cans to make up a batch of baked beans with onions, bacon, brown sugar and spices for a church function. People were raving about my beans!

Gil, yer not supposed to experiment on the congregation.
Click to expand...

:lkick:

Yeah, I know. Better yet, I experimented on our local Bishop!
 
D

Double_A

TB Fanatic
gillmanNSF said:
:lkick:

Yeah, I know. Better yet, I experimented on our local Bishop!
Click to expand...

Interesting in that my mom doctors up pork and beans in the same way except she mixes a little yellow mustard & ketchup and adds that too(you have to pre mix it before adding, otherwise it doesn't blend in well). Everything else is the same.

We ate that as kids every sunday with bar-b-que.
 
Loon

Loon

Inactive
Tonight we put Atkins steaks sauce on our steaks and the expiration date on it was 2004. We haven't kicked the bucket yet. :)
 
R

Rucus Sunday

Veteran Member
When I was a kid we stored our eggs on top of the fridge. It was usually several weeks before they were out and we bought more. Don't ever remember cracking open a bad egg back then. Also, if an uncooked/unfrozen egg does not float in water, it's probably good. Thanks for the info DA, good to know. I inspect all canned foods no matter how old or new they are. If anything at all seems to be "not right," in the trash it goes. Not worth getting food poisoning over 1 can.
 
rafter

rafter

Since 1999
Pass Go said:
Now, the 10# cans of pork and beans have been around for a long time, like since 2000/2001, and recently used 4 cans to make up a batch of baked beans with onions, bacon, brown sugar and spices for a church function. People were raving about my beans!

Gil, yer not supposed to experiment on the congregation.
Click to expand...

Thanks, now I have to clean my laptop screen.........:lkick:
 
Volleyball Granny

Volleyball Granny

Inactive
Double_A said:
Thank you for that extra info! It confirms a lot of what I suspected. The storing of eggs is an eye opener!
Click to expand...

You're welcome...it was actually, come to think of it, the woman at the chicken farm where I used to buy eggs who told me about shelling eggs. Also, I used to get some Hippie-type magazine back in the early 80's and it was chock-full of information about how food was grown, harvested, and packed. Some of the practices have been stopped (I hope) since the 1980's.
 
Volleyball Granny

Volleyball Granny

Inactive
Rucus Sunday said:
When I was a kid we stored our eggs on top of the fridge. It was usually several weeks before they were out and we bought more. Don't ever remember cracking open a bad egg back then. Also, if an uncooked/unfrozen egg does not float in water, it's probably good. Thanks for the info DA, good to know. I inspect all canned foods no matter how old or new they are. If anything at all seems to be "not right," in the trash it goes. Not worth getting food poisoning over 1 can.
Click to expand...

One of my friends was over and we were talking about expiration dates. He said that his uncle used to fill crates of eggs to sell. He'd start filling a crate that was about 4' x 4' x 3' and never refrigerate during the weeks he was filling the crate. Then, when he took the eggs to the grocery store, they didn't refrigerate either. But, I pointed out to him that those were pretty much free-range chickens that were also grain-fed--not the stacked cage chickens from which most grocery store eggs come today.

There used to be a much lower incidence of salmonella in free-range chicken. I think I read "almost none" in organic/free range chicken and about 70% in caged chickens. More info from that Hippie mag I used to read...have bought only free range chicken eggs since or from the farm (where I could go into the hen houses and see how they were fed). I was able to get goose eggs and duck eggs there, too. The farmers retired (they were in their 90's) two years ago...I sure miss their eggs! But, recent studies show that the incidence in organic or free range chicken is about 25%, which the researchers say is slightly higher than chicken grown the 'traditional' way. Traditional? Please.

Well, studies show whatever the person paying for them wants them to show. Make your choice: free-range chicken eggs or stacked-cage chicken eggs. It's up to you. :)
 
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