Re: Off topic: shelf life of canned foods

[Guest guest]

Hue: I once opened an old can of evaporated milk! Just the sight and smell

of the contents were enough to sicken me and of course I immediately took it

outside to the garbage. Don't take any chances. Botulism (found in bad

food in cans) is the most potent poison known.

on 7/26/2003 7:39 PM, Hue at kargo_cult@... wrote:

> What makes me wonder about this is that i found recently

> while cleaning up at workplace, a number of cans of food

> left behind. They nowhere read " BEST BEFORE - date " .

> The datecode is apparently coded on the bottom like this

> 9347 and similar, which in this example i have to guess,

> means 47th week of 1993. I am wondering how long

> one could expect these canned goods to be edible, or

> even nutritious. I don't think i have the courage to

> experientially determine this.

> Reading the sodium content on the canned beans again

> makes me wonder about the wonderfulness of food banks'

> canned food drives. If you ate one of these cans of beans,

> by my count, you get around 2000 mg of salt. Pass the

> water, please! And canned foods are supposed to be a help

> to those who need help. Well, the proteins at least are there,

> to maintan life in the short run, and for those not competent to

> prepare or chose their own foods, this will have to pass for nutrition.

> Hue

>

[Guest guest]

Could also mean 3 Sept 1947.

-------Original Message-------

From: Hue <kargo_cult@...>

Sent: 07/26/03 04:39 PM

Subject: [ ] Off topic: shelf life of canned foods

>

What makes me wonder about this is that i found recently

while cleaning up at workplace, a number of cans of food

left behind. They nowhere read " BEST BEFORE - date " .

The datecode is apparently coded on the bottom like this

9347 and similar, which in this example i have to guess,

means 47th week of 1993. I am wondering how long

one could expect these canned goods to be edible, or

even nutritious. I don't think i have the courage to

experientially determine this.

Reading the sodium content on the canned beans again

makes me wonder about the wonderfulness of food banks'

canned food drives. If you ate one of these cans of beans,

by my count, you get around 2000 mg of salt. Pass the

water, please! And canned foods are supposed to be a help

to those who need help. Well, the proteins at least are there,

to maintan life in the short run, and for those not competent to

prepare or chose their own foods, this will have to pass for nutrition.

Hue