Would you out of date tin?

If I'm not going to fully enjoy eating it I don't.
I have just googled and it seems as long as the tin is not damaged and stored properly its safe when out of date.

I go through cupboards regularly and bring tins which are out of date to the front. I open them and if the contents look and smell OK I use them. Tinned stuff lasts ages and I think we need to be guided by common sense.

I have quite a few tins and packets marked with Best Before dates of a few years ago. Dates are guides to shopkeepers to rotate their stock.
I even found items dated from our previous property, pre- 2014!
Open, sniff, taste, then eat- or throw out.

Doesn't the risk depend on what kind of food it is?
Fruit and veg probably less risky than meat and fish.
Capt. Scott's tins had been stored in well below zero conditions.
We have some tins of meat liver pate from France, about 5 years old. I'm dubious about using it. Otherwise I'm not overcautious about using OOD tins.

Your decision ... but I would have used it ... remember years ago no such thing as date on tins & food items ... some say look & smell if you are concerned

If tins were sound I'd have opened and checked them out but they would have hit the bin if there was any sign of rust/ blowing or if they smelt or looked in any way 'off'.

Just a balance between taking care and using common sense.

StarDreamer
If the German town made you uneasy, word of warning: don’t drive in Portugal. A high proportion of pedestrians don’t look either way they just step onto the crossing ?

Oh dear! Well it's done now unless I retrieve them from the wheelie bin. But I still would not enjoy eating them as much as if they were new.

If tins were in good condition, I would have opened them and then if looked and smelled OK would have had a little taste - then given it to my husband to eat!!! (not really)

MerylStreep

StarDreamer
Sometimes in life you just have to take a walk on the wild side, or feel the fear and do it anyway.

It is a balance.

If, as a pedestrian, one crosses a road, one looks both ways, even if it is a one-way street.

Interestingly, I was watching a video of walking in a German town recently and I felt quite uneasy as the view presented went across a zebra crossing without looking both ways.

I mean, one would not want to be ill in A&E and the doctor asking what one had eaten recently and saying one had eaten the contents of an out-of-date can of food.

By the way, in the food industry, they call them cans, not tins.

I know some companies advertise their products as tinned but that is really just patronising the public in my opinion.

Sort of oh, oh, oh, mustn't be thought to be contradicting what the customer thinks.

I woukd not have thrown these out, 2021 is like yesterday to me, am sure content will have been fine.
Seem to remember a tv programme where a tin of bully beef or something from the first or second war was found, still edible. Yum apparently.

From Good Housekeeping (US but I have no reason to believe there is any difference here in the U.K. )
According to the USDA, canned goods will last indefinitely if they are kept in good condition. Though, that’s no guarantee that the food’s texture and taste will be the same as when you first bought it years past the expiration date . There are several factors that diminish the shelf life of canned food, but generally you can feel safe following this rule of thumb: Foods that are more acidic will expire sooner, while low-acid canned foods will last for a longer amount of time. If you’re curious how different canned foods stack up, here's a specific breakdown of how long they'll last on the shelf, and even how long they’ll keep in the refrigerator after they have been opened
While canned goods past their "best-by" date may not taste optimal, there's no real health risk in consuming canned goods as long as they remain in good condition. Just make sure that you never buy bulging, rusted, leaking or dented cans, and that you always store canned goods in a cool, dry place — in fact, the USDA says to never store them in any place exposed to high or low temperatures, or in places such as under the sink, above or beside the stove, or in a damp garage or basement.
And of course, after opening canned foods, make sure to store leftovers and unused portions in the refrigerator; for best preservation of quality and flavor, you should store it in a glass or a plastic storage container

Like Monica, we retrieved a lot of old tins from his old aunt’s flat after she died. Some were several years out of date, but tins were sound and the contents fine.

StarDreamer
Sometimes in life you just have to take a walk on the wild side, or feel the fear and do it anyway.

Factory manager was probably talking about contents keeping flavour and quality they want people to taste. The soup will be safely edible for years after the 18 months, but may not taste as nice.

When I was eating my way through my elderly relatives stash, just as the breakfast cereal and biscuits had gone stale - but were still safe to eat, had I wanted to eat stale food, the soup just did not have that fresh taste, that flavour that it would have had when it was first tinned and I can understand that the manufacturer wouldn't want anyone eating their soup if it didn't taste perfect.

Remember. also the factory manager will be aware that he is speaking on a TV programme, needs to make sure everything he has said, fully conforms with all health and safety regulations - and the company want to sell as much of their soup as possible, so the shorter the period he can get away with saying soup is OK for, the more tins will get thrown away and the more soup will be sold( he hopes).

Tins last for many years as they are air tight

If it is a best before date it relates to quality not safety according to the gov.co.uk food safety website so perfectly safe to eat just may not taste as good. Most, if not all, dates on tins are best before.

Probably would have used it; depending on just how many years "out of date" it was.... And also on what's in the tin. Definitely more careful with meat or fish.

I watched one of these 'factory' programmes about making tinned soup. The presenter was told by the expert at the tins stage of the manufacturing process that tinned soup keeps for a year or a year and a half. The programme was so good I took this seriously and decided to look at all the dates on my store of tins, and I'd not have enjoyed using them after that factory manager's advice.

Before I watched the programme I'd have happily used even the tin from 2018.

MerylStreep

You might just as well flush money down the toilet.
Wasting food is obscene.

Yes, but careful planning can mean that one always eats within the time limit and throw out none.

Yet the odd mistake can nevertheless occur sometimes.

I do not eat out of date items.

I know some people say that have eaten it and had no problem, but to me that is like someone not having worn a seat belt in a car and saying that they survived the journey without a problem.

In each case they had no ill effects, but they might have done. So I always act so as to be safe rather than sorry. No need to take the risk.

MerylStreep

You might just as well flush money down the toilet.
Wasting food is obscene.

Totally agree. What a waste of what is, almost definitely, absolutely good food. AND adding to landfill.
I know that food banks will not take any tin that is pat its Use By date, but PLEASE DO NOT waste food in this way. It is obscene.

As long as the tin is undamaged then just ignore any date on it.

You might just as well flush money down the toilet.
Wasting food is obscene.

Reported, goodness me , go away

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.