BB dates on tinned food

periodictable

Each week I like to stock up on maybe €30-40 worth of tinned food.
Some BB dates go to 2017, but in reality how long can one reasonably expect the food to keep past the date? Thanks.

ShadowFox

Ive tested tinned food 1 year past the best before and it was fine Ive a tin of stewing steak hitting 18 months past Im waiting the 2 years if i survive ill let you know

Outkast_IRE

It depends on the product.

It is fair to see high acidity foods that are canned will last much longer, things such as canned tomatoes etc would have a huge usable life as the acidity is too high for bacteria to survive easily.
The same can be said for things canned in syrups/high sugar concentrations.

However the same cannot be said for things which use oil for storage such as fish, the oils can go bad within a few years.

wolfeye

Came across this article that was published in a FDA consumer magazine.

Canned food that was recovered from a steamboat that sank to the bottom of a river in 1865,was safe to eat 100 years later.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070509153848/http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00043.html

periodictable

wolfeye wrote: »

Came across this article that was published in a FDA consumer magazine.

Canned food that was recovered from a steamboat that sank to the bottom of a river in 1865,was safe to eat 100 years later.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070509153848/http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00043.html

fascinating article thanks

yoloc

i remember reading about a married cple who put a few tins canned food away and ate them on their 50th aniversery ans said it tasted like tge day they bought it.

Hatfry

periodictable wrote: »

Each week I like to stock up on maybe €30-40 worth of tinned food.
Some BB dates go to 2017, but in reality how long can one reasonably expect the food to keep past the date? Thanks.

What are you going to do in 2018 if we're not presented with a situation where it's needed?

Hatfry

wolfeye wrote: »

Came across this article that was published in a FDA consumer magazine.

Canned food that was recovered from a steamboat that sank to the bottom of a river in 1865,was safe to eat 100 years later.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070509153848/http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00043.html

Some balls whoever took the first bite!

ShadowFox

Hatfry wrote: »

What are you going to do in 2018 if we're not presented with a situation where it's needed?

I think the OP means he is rotating his supplies and just wondering if they will last longer than the BB dates

periodictable

Hatfry wrote: »

What are you going to do in 2018 if we're not presented with a situation where it's needed?

From what I can see these BB dates are more of a legal cover- I did open a 40 yo can of evaporated milk and it was fine. But some foodstuffs are likely to fare less well over time than others, and I'm getting a feel for what those might be.

The Glass Key

Stuff with a long BB dates of 4 years or more (corned beef and tinned ham as an example) are likely to last much much longer, in many cases I suspect the conditions the tins are stored in and their handling will be a major contributing factor to how long the the contents remain edible.

I put the BB date month and year (as in 9/16) in felt tip in large numbers on the tins so its obvious which ones will need rotation.