quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
My understanding (don't take my word for it) is that anything that has been properly canned (including pasteurization at the appropriate temperature) in a metal can or in a glass jar with a proper canning lid with a good seal is safe as long as the integrity of the container is maintained, no matter how long that is. Color, texture, and flavor may go downhill, but it won't actually hurt you.

I don't think normal grocery store peanut butter jars are actually canned. Not sure about whatever gallon containers the food bank has. Under normal storage and use times, it doesn't really need to be canned because it doesn't really have any water in it so nothing can really grow in it.

Without going into a lot of detail I'll simply say that I have eaten various canned foods years past their expiration dates... vegetables, fruits, soups, jams/jellys, cheap peanut butter that separated, dried goods, and they were all edible. Obviously I checked the seal on the items that were sealed, and checked the appearance, smell, and taste, before downing the whole container, and I was none the worse for eating them.

A friend got into a bind one time and so I decided to help him out and donated several expired cans of food to him. Most of the cans he opened were just fine, however there was one expired can of tomatoes that when he opened them there was the distinct smell of spoiled food and the water/fluid surrounding the tomatoes was saturated in tiny bubbles. I can't recall now, the can may have had a small dent in it, but there was no obvious signs of the can being broken or unsealed...needless to say it was thrown away.

It may offend some people's sensibilities and contradict the choices people typically make regarding their subjective quality standard for food, but properly canned and undamaged food stuffs can be eaten well past their printed expiration dates. It wouldn't surprise me however, to learn that there is a true finite date in which these items truly go bad, but it isn't often the date printed on the packaging.

Yeah, it seems like everything has to have an expiration (or best by) date now. I’m not convinced that they are anything more than CYA in many cases.

No joke, old peanut butter can harbor aflatoxins (the B1 variant capable of being deadly) if exposed long enough to a warm moist environment where the Aspergillus mold can take hold. No animal is immune to aflatoxins; ruminants especially succumb to the effects. Lots of bad advice from foolish posters suggesting to just hand over stale PB to a pig/goat farmer, who shouldn’t blindly give his/her livestock questionable feed.

Throw the crap out.

I think H&K Guy has a few ideas.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
You could bake a dozen peanut butter cookies for each SIGForum member.....

KARMA time!

quote:

Originally posted by brecaidra:

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
You could bake a dozen peanut butter cookies for each SIGForum member.....

KARMA time!

Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter cookies...tummy's grumbling now, nothing finer...well, except maybe peanut butter fudge!

If stale peanut butter killed feral hogs, every farmer in the country would want to purchase it