Good evening, SF. I found on the basement shelves a number of jars of canned goods -- beans, tomatoes, and (most important to me) tomato juice. These have been around for a good while -- one jar of tomato juice I brought up this evening is marked 2002.

I remember that tomato juice being mighty good, particularly when turned into a Bloody Mary.

As usual, I'm wondering now. Still good? Borderline dangerous? Definite no-go? I shook the juice... it had separated, of course, but came back together nicely. I haven't opened the jar yet, though.

What's the word, my invisible friends?

Forever.

As long as the cans are not bulging should be ok. If not can I have your guns?

^^Haha!

I also agree.

The tomatoes and juice, at least, ought to be good. Tomatoes, because of their acid content, are very resistant to botulism. As long as the jars weren't stored in excessive heat, the air space in the jar was taken up as much as possible, the lids aren't bulging and you don't see any mold, you should be good. The jar being glass, the juice won't have a metallic taste, which it can pick up from a metal can.

If it's bad, you can usually see the problem. We're still using tomato juice I canned 20 years ago. Did have one jar that was bad, but it was obvious.

2002 ??? When you said old I was thinking 1950.

Yes, make yourself a Bloody Mary!

we ate the last of the 2014 peaches the other day. Oh so good

Did you can them? If so, have a little faith in yourself!

My mom canned a decent amount of food when I was a kid- probably not nearly as much as many other folks but we always had canned goods on the shelves in our basement and I never questioned whether or not they were safe.
That being said, I did end up just throwing out a couple of canned products that weren’t canned by my folks - just because I didn’t know the process by which it was done or trust that it had been done correctly.

We ate 25 year old canned C rations when I was in the Army and they were still good.

...except for the Ham and Lima beans which were never good to start with.

Yeah in 1991 I ate some peanut butter from the Korean War ,...the ship had a lot of stuff like that, one cook ordered food out of the National stock system...food sucked but we didn’t die.

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:
Forever.

That about covers it. Unless the seal is broken on the jars, which would be pretty obvious.

1. Steam HOT WATER BATH canned or pressure canned?

2. Some varieties of tomatoes are not sufficiently acidic to prevent growth of botulinum when steam canned. Did you check acidity or add extra acid?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Fenris,

You know its bad when the lid rust thru,like peppers.
I wish they still had glass lids with rubber rings.I have some of the rubber rings but those type jars are not available

The wife opened some jars of beef stew she had canned back in 2016 and 2017 last night. Very tasty and I've suffered no ill effects.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Did you can them? If so, have a little faith in yourself!

Ex-Mrs' mama canned them. I'm sure they were done well... we got along.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
1. Steam canned or pressure canned?

2. Some varieties of tomatoes are not sufficiently acidic to prevent growth of botulinum when steam canned. Did you check acidity or add extra acid?

I don't know what method she used. I don't know how to check acidity either. How do you do that?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
As long as the cans are not bulging should be ok. If not can I have your guns?

Um... maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by 45 Cal:
You know its bad when the lid rust thru,like peppers.
I wish they still had glass lids with rubber rings.I have some of the rubber rings but those type jars are not available

That type of jar (at least, with the glass lid held on by metal clips) is still made, they're just a bit more expensive so virtually every brick and mortar store only carries Ball or Kerr screw tops.

https://weckjars.com/

The flip top ones (sometimes called "bail top") are no longer made by any big canning equipment manufacturer because they aren't as safe - you can't always tell if they have sealed properly and the mechanism puts uneven pressure on the lid.

I just ate cereal that was 12 years old, and it was perfect!! Sealed in a half gallon jar with a jar vacuum and an oxygen absorber. Couldn't tell it from anew box off the shelf. Wife said I was wacko

There are two things I have learned watching Steve1989MREInfo on YouTube:

1. Canned food can last several decades and still be edible.

2. If canned food has been around for decades, and it is NOT good, either the can will give you very clear signs something is wrong, or you will know the instant you open the can that it is bad.

I've seen that man eat food that would choke a vulture and comment on the 'earthy' flavor, but when he opens a can that is full of botulism and rot the smell is too much for even his iron constitution. So, unless you have no sense of smell at all, you will know if a 20yr.-old can has gone bad the minute you open it.

- Bret

quote:

Originally posted by sadlerbw:
There are two things I have learned watching Steve1989MREInfo on YouTube:

1. Canned food can last several decades and still be edible.

2. If canned food has been around for decades, and it is NOT good, either the can will give you very clear signs something is wrong, or you will know the instant you open the can that it is bad.

I've seen that man eat food that would choke a vulture and comment on the 'earthy' flavor, but when he opens a can that is full of botulism and rot the smell is too much for even his iron constitution. So, unless you have no sense of smell at all, you will know if a 20yr.-old can has gone bad the minute you open it.

- Bret

The "can will give you very clear signs something is wrong" part is very important!

Most bacteria are killed at boiling temperature. That is true of C. Botulinum bacteria too, the ones responsible for botulism. The difference is that C. Botulinum bacteria also produces spores that are NOT killed even by hours of boiling. Killing C. Botulinum spores requires the higher temperatures of pressure canning.

Most bacteria need oxygen. That is NOT true of C. Botulinum, which is an anaerobic bacteria that grows in low-oxygen environments.

There are other things that inactivate botulism, like acidity, which is why you don't have to pressure can acidic stuff.

But if you have a can of something non-acidic, that accidentally wasn't canned at a high enough temperature, then even though most bacteria were killed in the canning process and most bacteria won't grow in a sealed can, the C. Botulinum spores will happily reproduce and make the single most toxic substance known to science. Really! Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxin and in humans has the lowest lethal dose of any known substance.

There can be a dangerous level of botulinum toxin in the food without any noticeable changes to the food itself, but as the bacteria grows it produces gas, so it will make the can swell (or, for stuff in jars, make the "safety button" pop up). There might not be any other evidence a problem.

My aunt is a big gardener and was getting into home hot water bath (plain old jars in boiling water) canning and had done thousands of jars of typical home canning stuff, but didn't really know about botulism and pressure canning requirements. She canned a bunch of potatoes one year (not acidic, require pressure canning) and stuck them in her pantry. Fortunately, before anyone ATE any of the potatoes, the growth of C. Botulinum bacteria in the jars generated enough pressure that it made a bunch of the jars explode, alerting her to a problem and causing her to do some research.