Comments on: Time to bin the “Best before” date? http://www.notdelia.co.uk/time-to-bin-the-best-before-date/ For people who care about their food Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:01:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Mr Not Delia http://www.notdelia.co.uk/time-to-bin-the-best-before-date/comment-page-1/#comment-1130 Mr Not Delia Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:55:04 +0000 http://www.notdelia.co.uk/?p=7643#comment-1130 Great posting, Buddyboy! :-D I remember hearing about that tin of Christmas pud. Evidently it was an example that struck a chord in the popular consciousness - I certainly wasn't around in 1960 ;-) Fascinating - if ironic and tragic - to hear that the NW Passage expedition died because of tins. Something I'd never heard about. (Franklin, though, rather than Shackleton - S was active half a century later.) On a personal note, we (or rather I) opened a tin of tomato purée earlier today. Canned in April 2007 and expiry date of April 2009. Nothing wrong with it at all, except that ND thought it looked a little darker than usual. (When I say there was nothing wrong with it, I was talking about the contents. The tin had an unconventionally tall lip, so our usual opener couldn't cut through the wall of the tin in the usual way - I ended up having to resort to the Swiss Army knife. :roll: ) Great posting, Buddyboy! :-D

I remember hearing about that tin of Christmas pud. Evidently it was an example that struck a chord in the popular consciousness – I certainly wasn’t around in 1960 ;-)

Fascinating – if ironic and tragic – to hear that the NW Passage expedition died because of tins. Something I’d never heard about. (Franklin, though, rather than Shackleton – S was active half a century later.)

On a personal note, we (or rather I) opened a tin of tomato purée earlier today. Canned in April 2007 and expiry date of April 2009. Nothing wrong with it at all, except that ND thought it looked a little darker than usual.

(When I say there was nothing wrong with it, I was talking about the contents. The tin had an unconventionally tall lip, so our usual opener couldn’t cut through the wall of the tin in the usual way – I ended up having to resort to the Swiss Army knife. :roll: )

]]> By: Buddyboy http://www.notdelia.co.uk/time-to-bin-the-best-before-date/comment-page-1/#comment-1129 Buddyboy Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:54:17 +0000 http://www.notdelia.co.uk/?p=7643#comment-1129 I'm with you on this one, ND. I hate throwing away good food and find best before dates err heavily on the side of caution. Your mention of finding old tins of food on the back shelf brings to mind something that was reported in Britain circa 1960 on the television. They had an old can of Christmas pudding dating back to the first world war, food that was actually sent to the troops in the trenches but later returned unused and kept by someone. They opened it and ate it some fifty years after it was made. The contents were fine, as good as when it was made seemingly. Now, if an old tin like that can survive for that long, I have great faith in modern methods of preserving food, especially tins which are now also plastic coated inside. I for one trust my nose, my eyes and common sense when deciding if food is at the "toss it out" stage. My wife, on the other hand, is far more cautious and disposes of old foods far more readily. She tends to do it when I am not around as she knows I'll object. I can't recall the last time I reacted negatively to food past its prime. Speaking of tins, it was they that were responsible for the loss of the Shackleton expedition to Canada to find the northwest passage in the mid-nineteenth century. Back then tins were very new, with their seams sealed by lead solder. The crew, dependent of the tins of food over a long period, succumbed to lead poisoning and all perished in our Canadian wilderness. We've come a long way with food preservation since then. I’m with you on this one, ND. I hate throwing away good food and find best before dates err heavily on the side of caution. Your mention of finding old tins of food on the back shelf brings to mind something that was reported in Britain circa 1960 on the television. They had an old can of Christmas pudding dating back to the first world war, food that was actually sent to the troops in the trenches but later returned unused and kept by someone. They opened it and ate it some fifty years after it was made. The contents were fine, as good as when it was made seemingly.

Now, if an old tin like that can survive for that long, I have great faith in modern methods of preserving food, especially tins which are now also plastic coated inside. I for one trust my nose, my eyes and common sense when deciding if food is at the “toss it out” stage. My wife, on the other hand, is far more cautious and disposes of old foods far more readily. She tends to do it when I am not around as she knows I’ll object. I can’t recall the last time I reacted negatively to food past its prime.

Speaking of tins, it was they that were responsible for the loss of the Shackleton expedition to Canada to find the northwest passage in the mid-nineteenth century. Back then tins were very new, with their seams sealed by lead solder. The crew, dependent of the tins of food over a long period, succumbed to lead poisoning and all perished in our Canadian wilderness. We’ve come a long way with food preservation since then.

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