You know, if
I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard people say they threw out some cans of
food because “there’s no point risking botulism,” I’d be pretty rich. A whole lot of food gets wasted due to
unfounded fears and lack of understanding.
The bacterial spores that produce the toxin that causes botulism can only enter the can (or, I suppose now also Mylar bags) when the food is being packaged. The bacteria reproduce in moist, low-acid, anaerobic (very-low or no oxygen) environments.
- If your dehydrated and freeze-dried foods were perfectly dry when you packaged them, there is no risk of botulism from those foods.
- If your fruits weren’t spoiled when you canned them, then those jars won’t have any botulism-causing spores in them. (Spoiled, molded, or rotten fruit has a lower pH and is thus not safe for water-bath canning. Yes, most people would not can those fruits, but in desperate times of the Depression, some people did, rationalizing that the bad taste of a couple of fruits would not be noticed in the jar, and it was enough to lower the pH and create conditions favorable for botulism to develop.)
- That leaves the canned veggies and meats. If they were improperly canned, the food in there could become toxic. But whether it becomes toxic has absolutely nothing to do with how old it is. If the food has been compromised by the spores that cause botulism and improperly processed, it could kill the people who eat it, regardless of whether there is still a year to go before it reaches its “best-by” date. By the same token, food that has been properly processed, even if it is fifty years old, will not cause botulism.
So what many people mean when they say, “When in doubt, throw it out,” is that there is no point risking food poisoning. And when you think about it, of course there aren’t any foods that are worth spending a day, week, or even an hour of nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea for. However, there is so much perfectly good food that gets wasted because people just don’t understand and are not familiar with simple tests they can perform to determine whether some foods are still safe to eat.
It was a humble bag of bacon bits that inspired this article. Fourteen-year-old bacon bits. No Mylar, though there was a desiccant or oxygen absorber in there. No other special treatment, other than it was unopened, at least until last week.
Why did I still have it after moving from Missouri to Reno, and from Reno to here? Well, it did get “lost” when I packed it (and its two sister packages) in a case of #10 cans. And then when I found it two years ago, it became one of those things you just scoot to the side and try not to think about the money probably wasted because it is so far out of date.
Last week I brought it up from the basement, finally determined (so I thought) to throw it away.
But then, I figured, what the heck? Why not open it up and check it out?
I sniffed. Becky sniffed. I tasted. Becky tasted.
We garnished our salads with them. We’re still alive.
We put them on the table for the rest of the family at dinner. (Naturally, we did not tell them they were 14 years old. That would be stupid.) They are still alive. No one detected any off taste, no one had any ill effects.
So I thought that at this time of skyrocketing food costs, it would be a good idea to review what causes food poisoning (hint: it’s not spoiled food), botulism, uses for spoiled foods, and how to test for spoilage. Writing on that would take all day. So I’ll just provide a 1-2 sentence summary of each and a link to those articles.
How do you determine what gets tossed? In this house, obviously suspect foods are immediately tossed—bulging, leaking cans. Food so moldy you don’t even know what it was. Home-canned items whose seal failed. Any leftovers more than a few days old. Most everything else is up for discussion:
- Eggs. The egg float test will tell you whether your egg is definitely good, probably good, or a hand grenade to be used on the enemy.
- Milk. You can extend the life of fresh milk as described here, or use your spoiled milk in baking.
- Best-by dates on canned goods are not required by law, except on baby formula. Stores can still sell these items, but customers get irritated and store’s reputation suffers when they do that.
- Canned goods can be easily tested with just a little water and a can opener.
- Cooking oil has many uses when it goes rancid. Test for rancidity using these steps.
- Molded foods are usually tossed, but some items can be salvaged.
- Most dry medications are still efficacious years beyond their expiration dates.
It is silly to take chances eating food that might be compromised in any way. But when you know how to test your food, you aren’t taking chances. You’re being smart—and saving money.
We did a major push to store food back in 2006-2007 and a surprising amount of that food is still on our shelves (dry-packed foods, home-canned meats, home-canned fruits, etc., etc.) We have definitely discovered what stores well and what doesn't. This past month I've been doing a reorganizing and inventorying of what we have and in the process, some foods got tossed. White flour doesn't store well for 17 years. However, we opened some commercial cans of pancake mix and buttermilk baking mix from that same era and both smelled, tasted and ate just fine. At the same time, we discovered a few of the cans of pancake mix had started bulging, so we've been cautious as we've opened the ones remaining. Some peanut butter (it's not 17 years old!) has gone rancid, but some is just fine, so we judge them on a jar by jar basis. Extra virgin olive oil seems to last forever! Commercially canned pears have a fairly short shelf life. It really is interesting to read the charts of life expectancy of various food items and then to observe the reality in your own life and with your own foods!
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