Expirey dates: should I eat it?

[fredr123]

To some people, expiry and best before dates mean nothing.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

It depends entirely on what the type of drug is and bacteria for sure develop resistance to antiobiotics. Other common things like acetaminophen (tylenol) or acetylsalyicylic acid (A.S.A., Aspirin) that you might take for a cold act in completely different ways. I'm actually not sure that those drugs have lost their effectiveness since they were first discovered 100+ years ago.

It certainly does depend on the medication. Things like painkillers last for a very long time. I would certainly not be leery of taking things like you mentioned if they were somewhat past their expiry date. Antibiotics, you have to be much more careful with. They require proper storage and will be affected by things like humidity, light, temperature. Those type of factors all have a direct effect on the shelf life of the drug or medication.

I just don't understand why people have very old medications lying around though....or old food.

[Ford Prefect]

I read an article once that suggested most cases of the so-called flu are simply adverse gastro reactions to something we ate, and dish cloths are the most common source of this "flu". This is especially true in the summer ... we try to change the dish cloth at least twice a day in the summer.

[ken0042]

I'm sure I've posted this link in the past, but seems relevant to re-post it again today. This guy eats expired stuff (Urkel-O's cereal), gross stuff, even stuff not meant for human consumption:

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives...ont_eat_it.php

[Locke]

Go for it, whats the worst that could happen?

If you start feeling weird we'll start a pool on what it is.

Who wants to take the over/under on botulism?

[Barnes]

I was just going to mention the freegans. Remember, there is a difference between Expiry date and Best Before date. Best before does not mean it's gone bad and will cause you to barf out the wrong end, just its taste has changed.

There was actually a show on this a couple of nights ago on National Geographic that I wanted to see about this but missed it.

[LChoy]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

And for an interesting bit of trivia I saw on television, the only natural food that never goes bad? Honey.

Yup. there is too much sugar for bacteria and mould to grow on it. Beer and wine are also things that can sit for ages and still be "safe" for human comsumption. I remember reading somewhere about archaeologist finding preserved jars of honey and wine from a sunken ship. Upon tasting, the contents were still quite good.

[eddly]

Just to clarify, I'm pulling out frozen bread with an expiry date that passed anywhere from 1 to 3 months ago. All is well.

As for drugs, I am only referring to multivitamins. If the expiry is past a year, I huck them.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by eddly

Just to clarify, I'm pulling out frozen bread with an expiry date that passed anywhere from 1 to 3 months ago. All is well.

As for drugs, I am only referring to multivitamins. If the expiry is past a year, I huck them.

See, but this is not what we are talking about. Now if on the other hand, you let that bread stay on your kitchen counters and it was 1 to 3 months past the expiry date, then there would be a problem.

So comparing bread frozen in your freezer, 3 months past the expiry date, does not equate to comparing it to bread left on your counter, 3 months past the expiry date,

Freezing prolongs the expiry date. Not forever, for each food group, there are shelf lifes in your freezer as well. Again, perhaps the food will not have gone bad within that time frame, but it's quality will certainly be affected as well as the taste.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

I read an article once that suggested most cases of the so-called flu are simply adverse gastro reactions to something we ate, and dish cloths are the most common source of this "flu". This is especially true in the summer ... we try to change the dish cloth at least twice a day in the summer.

The main thing to remember with your dish cloth is that it must be left so that it will air dry. If you just crumple it up and leave it on your countertop, it is gonna go yucky and smelly in one big hurry, especially in the summer when it is warmer.

Dishcloths should first of all be completely rinsed in hot water once you are finished with them. If you leave old soap, old food particles in your dishcloth, it will speed the rate at which your dishcloth will go "bad".

Once your dishcloth is well rinsed, open it up and either put it over your tap, some object so that it is going to dry instead of sit and ferment.

That is basically what has happened when your dishcloth smells "off", it has started to ferment, meaning it was not rinsed etc before you put it away.

And it also helps to put your dishcloth through a light bleach rinse before you launder it. Be careful with bleach, it will discolor other items including your jeans if you drip bleach on them((

[Clever_Iggy]

So Rage... what's the verdict? Did you eat it? Are you alive?

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy

So Rage... what's the verdict? Did you eat it? Are you alive?

He can't reply right now, he's on the can...

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

And for an interesting bit of trivia I saw on television, the only natural food that never goes bad? Honey.

Not because honey has any natural medicinal properties, it's just because it's all simple sugar that the osmotoic effect leaves little to no water for microorganisms to grow and even if they tried, the water would be sucked out of them.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Not because honey has any natural medicinal properties, it's just because it's all simple sugar that the osmotoic effect leaves little to no water for microorganisms to grow and even if they tried, the water would be sucked out of them.

So in theory, if I coated a person in honey, all the water would be sucked out of them and they would die.

The perfect crime.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

So in theory, if I coated a person in honey, all the water would be sucked out of them and they would die.

The perfect crime.

The next James Bond/Austin Powers villain?

[Locke]

Captain Crunch isnt the Villain, hes the victim!