theres a reason there is an export date on food... op probably shouldn't be taking chances

I was thinking the same thing matey.

Exactly. Though it probably isn't the best idea to eat canned food that's expired by years, obviously you've had no adverse effects. Where's the problem?

On the bright side, OP probably has a stomach of steel now.

Maybe OP was the subject on which this hypothesis was being tested. Congratulations, you've contributed to science.

Exactly, which means its obviously still good to eat after the expiration date

Boosts your immune system, I guess.

Well, when the world ends and you're in the bomb shelter, the food that was stored there is no different than before...

But Op said her mom thought YEARS after the date. A lot don't stay edible for that long.

You can tell when you pop the can of it is bad. Often times, before you pop it, as the can tends to warp.

When I did "crank duty" we opened a can of corn that had a date of 2000 on them in the year 2006. Of course the military does feed it's enlisted men worse than prisons feed inmates. In the end it really doesn't matter, canned food almost never seems to "spoil" unless the can is punctured somehow.

That's what my grandpa said as he fed my sister old canned food. She got food poisoning for a week.

22, I think she meant that for 17 years ( perhaps as long as the OP has been alive) her mom has been cooking with expired food, as in her mom has always cooked expired food for her. I don't think she means the food has been expired for over 17 years. In my opinion atleast.

40, reread the fml. I agree that it's fine, but she did say years old.

it wasnt food poisoning if it lasted a week.

There was a couple that on their 70th wedding anniversary ate a can of Campbell's tomato soup together that they got on their wedding day. It wasn't spoiled. Fact from Ripley's Believe it or not 2009-2010 calendar

"Food poisoning" is a genetic term for any food-born illness, not all of which are short-suffered. E coli, salmonella, and botchulism can last more than a week. They can be deadly, too. The way to tell if food is bad is by the senses, not the date. A small taste works best, but smelling it is close enough.

Expiration dates are a legal retirement even on products like honey which has been found in tombs perfectly fine after thousands of years. A lot of people don't realize there are two categories of expiration dates and they are quite different, use by, and best before, use by is on highly perishable items such as meat milk etc and is a good one to stick by (though usually a few extra days won't hurt) best before is found on items that don't perish easily such as canned goods spices, crackers etc. All a best before date means is the company don't guarantee the same level of freshness or quality after this date. Products marked with this unless contaminated in some way are perfectly fine after this date and often will be for years after the date.

When my grandparents were renovating their old flat that they've lived in for over 40 years and inherited from my grandpa's father, they found a stash of canned food under the bathtub. Of course the cans were all warped because of the heat of the bath, but they were still relatively intact. Apparently my great grandfather had been saving supplies in case of an attack during the second world war and then I guess forgotten about it, so the stash had stayed there since. My grandparents decided to open the cans and noticed that most of them seemes fine, so they ate two as a kind of symbolic "war is over" action, and then threw out the rest. They felt fine, but the next day their neighbour came over and blamed them for his entire family getting sick; he had found the dozens of cans in their trash and decided it's better to eat what's there than to buy new food for his own money. I guess he never stopped to check the date on the cans or wonder why the cans were in the trash in the first place..

93, that's kinda funny, since the neighbour actually committed theft by taking those cans. So, theoretically, your grandparents could've pressed charges, since their trash is legally their property until the agreed-upon partner, the trash truck, takes it over. Not that it'd be neccessary to press charges in this case, though, since the neighbours obviously got their karmic retribution already.

97 is that a foreign law? Because here in America once the trash is on the curb anyone can go through it.

Unless OP's Mom has been buying food within the expiration date and storing it long enough for it to go past the expiration date I doubt she has had very much food that had expired. Stores are usually good about getting those off the shelf. Even then, canned food is still good long after their "best used before" date.

For #31: As a young 2Lt who was a little short on discipline, I had lots of opportunity on weekend duty to eat in the Jr. ranks mess (the duty officer has to inspect all the messes). I assure, that in Canada at least, the Jr. ranks get much better food than the officers in terms of quality. Yes, presentation may lack (officers get waiters, ranks get a slop line), and the mess isn't as nicely furnished, but the food is better. It was the highlight of the weekend to eat in the Jr. ranks mess. The reason I came up with for this is that in the officers mess, if the food was shite, someone might right a strongly worded memo. In the Jr. ranks mess, if the food was shite, they'd probably gang up and burn the building down while running the cook out on a rail.

Actually 99 it depends on the city where you live. In my city your trash is yours until the garbage man takes it to the dump and it's illegal to take stuff out of it or rummage or even throw your own waste in it. And yes I live in America.

Prison food is pretty shitty, i would know from hands on experience as a corrections officer an can confirm what your saying cause i work with retired vets an reservists lol

Ah, 40, I re-read it after you replied. I mistook the fml and thought it said the cans were 17 years old. My mistake.

#99 actually when the trash is at the curb it is still considered private property until the trash is collected. That is why cops need a search warrant to go through your trash.

actually #175 It depends where you live. Where I live if the trash can is on the curb its considered public property because its on public property. However dumpsters behind stores are still private property because they are on private property.

"Most cases of food poisoning are mild and clear up on their own within 4 - 7 days." Source: Food poisoning | University of Maryland Medical Center http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/food-poisoning#ixzz2oO3kiXpO If you thumbed me down because you didn't believe food poisoning lasts a week, I can tell you it lasted a week for my sister. If you thumbed me down because you don't believe canned food really goes bad and to you it's more likely that I'm a liar, well, enjoy your bliss.

OP actually proves their mother right by it being this long and them never noticing until now. Unless they've been sick a lot of times and left that out of the fml

Your screwed just do eating canned hamburger expired or not that not something that should ever come from a can

I usually don't take jabs at bad grammar, but wow #54....just wow.

Please tell me that English is your third language #54

Oh come on, it's hardly the worst I've seen on here and the sentiment is clear. If you really can't figure it out - "You're screwed just from eating canned hamburger - expired or not, that's not something that should ever come from a can."

54's name explains it all; "horneyhic."

Your grammar, #54, is really... Wow horrible

they must not have been here long I that's they worst they've seen.

no, because it's the law.

It's actually just a liability.

Indeed it doesn't. If it says "best before" that doesn't mean it'll be rotten a day after that date. Or a month. Or even a year. As long as no oxygen touches the food and the packaging stays intact, it shouldn't be possible for the contents to spoil. I know from experience that canned food a year past its "best before" date is still perfectly fine.

I read that in a Cleveland Brown's voice

Same, #64!

Hey, that's why the peasants had better immune systems than most royalty. The peasants received the rotten fruit, while the royals took the fresh goods. Take THAT, aristocratic society! Microbiology works!

I'd call a year a LONG time...