On Nov 2, 6:37*pm, (D.M.
Procida) wrote:
An elderly neighbour has kindly given us a couple of cans.

One contains 4 Goblin "Hamburgers With Onions and Gravy", with a 49p
price sticker still on it.

Their other is a Heinz treacle sponge pudding (28 pence from Tesco).
It's old enough not even to have a barcode.

We're not planning on consuming either of them, but I wonder whether
they'd be safe to eat.

Daniele


Tinned food is safe indefinitely by design. Canning food began in 1824
(the can opener wasnt invented until later!), and in the 1930s a can
of 1824 food was consumed, half of it by a human, the other half by a
team of rats, with no ill effects whatever. Best before dates on cans
are little more than a way to increase sales.

However, as with any theoretically perfect process there are a few
practical issues.

Occasionally total sterility fails to be achieved, and the can will
bulge later as bacteria multiply. The contents are then defintely not
safe to eat.

Cans can rust, and if the rusting penetrates deep enough it can let
air and bacteria in, resulting in unsafe contents.

Dented cans rarely have a seam split, leading to spoilage. In practice
it takes some heavy duty denting for this to happen - avoid cans that
look like theyve been run over.

Jam from the 1930s tended to be adulterated with glucose, which was an
unacceptable ingredient then because it tended to be tainted with
toxic heavy metals. Other iffy historic ingredients may also be found
in very old cans.

Occasionally food can deteriorate in a can without becoming unsafe.
This is quality deterioration, not safety.

Canned food is the safest way to eat from a food poisoning pov, but
when tinned food poisoning does occasionally strike, its the worst of
all, as bad food has had so long to become infected & toxic.

IIRC bar codes became popular in the late 80s with EPOS systems, and
the prices sound perhaps earlier in the 80s, so I wouldnt worry about
the age of your cans.


NT

Tinned food is safe indefinitely by design. Canning food began in 1824
(the can opener wasnt invented until later!), and in the 1930s a can
of 1824 food was consumed, half of it by a human, the other half by a
team of rats, with no ill effects whatever. Best before dates on cans
are little more than a way to increase sales.

However, as with any theoretically perfect process there are a few
practical issues.

Occasionally total sterility fails to be achieved, and the can will
bulge later as bacteria multiply. The contents are then defintely not
safe to eat.

Cans can rust, and if the rusting penetrates deep enough it can let
air and bacteria in, resulting in unsafe contents.

Dented cans rarely have a seam split, leading to spoilage. In practice
it takes some heavy duty denting for this to happen - avoid cans that
look like theyve been run over.

Jam from the 1930s tended to be adulterated with glucose, which was an
unacceptable ingredient then because it tended to be tainted with
toxic heavy metals. Other iffy historic ingredients may also be found
in very old cans.

Occasionally food can deteriorate in a can without becoming unsafe.
This is quality deterioration, not safety.

Canned food is the safest way to eat from a food poisoning pov, but
when tinned food poisoning does occasionally strike, its the worst of
all, as bad food has had so long to become infected & toxic.

IIRC bar codes became popular in the late 80s with EPOS systems, and
the prices sound perhaps earlier in the 80s, so I wouldnt worry about
the age of your cans.


20 or 30 years ago I read of the discovery of a food cache that had been
buried by Napoleon's army during the Russia campaign of 1812. Some of this
was sealed in metal containers. Samples were taken and found to be in good
order and edible.
It's so long ago that I can't remember the source of the info. May have been
a scientific journal.

Nick.

On Nov 3, 12:29*pm, NT wrote:
On Nov 2, 6:37*pm, (D.M.

Procida) wrote:
An elderly neighbour has kindly given us a couple of cans.

One contains 4 Goblin "Hamburgers With Onions and Gravy", with a 49p
price sticker still on it.

Their other is a Heinz treacle sponge pudding (28 pence from Tesco).
It's old enough not even to have a barcode.

We're not planning on consuming either of them, but I wonder whether
they'd be safe to eat.

Daniele

Tinned food is safe indefinitely by design. Canning food began in 1824
(the can opener wasnt invented until later!), and in the 1930s a can
of 1824 food was consumed, half of it by a human, the other half by a
team of rats, with no ill effects whatever. Best before dates on cans
are little more than a way to increase sales.

However, as with any theoretically perfect process there are a few
practical issues.

Occasionally total sterility fails to be achieved, and the can will
bulge later as bacteria multiply. The contents are then defintely not
safe to eat.

Cans can rust, and if the rusting penetrates deep enough it can let
air and bacteria in, resulting in unsafe contents.

Dented cans rarely have a seam split, leading to spoilage. In practice
it takes some heavy duty denting for this to happen - avoid cans that
look like theyve been run over.

Jam from the 1930s tended to be adulterated with glucose, which was an
unacceptable ingredient then because it tended to be tainted with
toxic heavy metals. Other iffy historic ingredients may also be found
in very old cans.

Occasionally food can deteriorate in a can without becoming unsafe.
This is quality deterioration, not safety.

Canned food is the safest way to eat from a food poisoning pov, but
when tinned food poisoning does occasionally strike, its the worst of
all, as bad food has had so long to become infected & toxic.

IIRC bar codes became popular in the late 80s with EPOS systems, and
the prices sound perhaps earlier in the 80s, so I wouldnt worry about
the age of your cans.

NT

Don't forget the lead poisonong from the soldered seams on *old* cans.

MBQ

On Nov 3, 2:27*pm, "Man at B&Q" wrote:
On Nov 3, 12:29*pm, NT wrote:



On Nov 2, 6:37*pm, (D.M.

Procida) wrote:
An elderly neighbour has kindly given us a couple of cans.

One contains 4 Goblin "Hamburgers With Onions and Gravy", with a 49p
price sticker still on it.

Their other is a Heinz treacle sponge pudding (28 pence from Tesco).
It's old enough not even to have a barcode.

We're not planning on consuming either of them, but I wonder whether
they'd be safe to eat.

Daniele

Tinned food is safe indefinitely by design. Canning food began in 1824
(the can opener wasnt invented until later!), and in the 1930s a can
of 1824 food was consumed, half of it by a human, the other half by a
team of rats, with no ill effects whatever. Best before dates on cans
are little more than a way to increase sales.

However, as with any theoretically perfect process there are a few
practical issues.

Occasionally total sterility fails to be achieved, and the can will
bulge later as bacteria multiply. The contents are then defintely not
safe to eat.

Cans can rust, and if the rusting penetrates deep enough it can let
air and bacteria in, resulting in unsafe contents.

Dented cans rarely have a seam split, leading to spoilage. In practice
it takes some heavy duty denting for this to happen - avoid cans that
look like theyve been run over.

Jam from the 1930s tended to be adulterated with glucose, which was an
unacceptable ingredient then because it tended to be tainted with
toxic heavy metals. Other iffy historic ingredients may also be found
in very old cans.

Occasionally food can deteriorate in a can without becoming unsafe.
This is quality deterioration, not safety.

Canned food is the safest way to eat from a food poisoning pov, but
when tinned food poisoning does occasionally strike, its the worst of
all, as bad food has had so long to become infected & toxic.

IIRC bar codes became popular in the late 80s with EPOS systems, and
the prices sound perhaps earlier in the 80s, so I wouldnt worry about
the age of your cans.

NT

Don't forget the lead poisonong from the soldered seams on *old* cans.

MBQ

Lead poisoning is rather an exaggeration, but yes lead was used
formerly.


NT

Tinned food is safe indefinitely by design. Canning food began in 1824
(the can opener wasnt invented until later!), and in the 1930s a can
of 1824 food was consumed, half of it by a human, the other half by a
team of rats, with no ill effects whatever. Best before dates on cans
are little more than a way to increase sales.

I always thought that it was developed by the French during the
Napoleonic wars; i.e. before 1815.

Jonathan