US Food Supply In Constant Danger Of Going "Bad"

[JFN1]

I was watching Hogan's Heroes last night, and saw something very interesting regarding our food.

In the episode, Sgt. Schultz confiscated a cheese sandwich from LeBeau. Col. Klink held a trial the next day, found LeBeau guilty, and Sgt. Schultz proceeded to eat the sandwich - which had apparently been left sitting on Klink's desk for 24 hours - without ill effect, and no commentary on the dangers of spoiled food.

My husband commented that if a cheese sandwich had been left out these days for an entire day without refrigeration, it would go bad.

I'd been thinking about this all day, so I stepped into the kitchen and started looking at my food.

EVERYTHING has an expiration date on it now - even canned food. I found cans of beans, vegetables, chili, soup, stew, and tuna in my canned goods cabinet that are all due to expire within a few weeks - and I just bought this stuff within the last few months. I found a few cans of food I remember buying, but didn't use. Case in point: A can of cranberry sauce we didn't use when we had Thanksgiving at our house two years ago. According to the can, the cranberries expired Jan 25 07 - just two months after we would have used them.

Growing up, I remember having eggs in our house that lasted for weeks. Canned food that lasted for years and years (I remember eating a five-year-old can of Spam I found in a box of food my mom gave me when I went away to college, and I didn't get sick). Things like canned Spam used to have either no expiration date, or a "best if used by" date on them.

But today - food apparently doesn't last more than a year in a can, and about ten days for stuff like eggs. And fresh vegetables don't last more than a few days anymore.

How can that be? How can it be that in the 1960's, when Hogan's was filmed, a cheese sandwich left on a desk for 24 hours was still edible?

I left a package of Kraft Singles out overnight a while back (it had like three slices in it) after making grilled cheese sandwiches. I threw the remaining cheese away in the morning, because I was afraid to eat it.

I looked in my fridge, with these thoughts in mind, and discovered that I hardly have any food in my fridge that hasn't expired, or is rapidly approaching expiration, according to the date given on the labels.

So I ask: Is our food supply really safe? Or is it going to go bad just as soon as we open it?

And what about all of the "preservatives" they put in food these days? Aren't they supposed to extend shelf life? And if so, then why does food seem to be dated as 'bad' almost as soon as you buy it? How much food are Americans throwing away these days just because the expiration date has passed?

When I was young, food didn't expire like it does today. So what gives, then? Anyone else notice this? Has big business crept up on us and placed fear into us sufficient for us to justify throwing away perfectly good food just because we're told to?

How much money are we wasting? How many resources? How does this affect global warming, and the global food supply?

And most important - is it right? Should our meat expire in days, our eggs expire in a week, our canned food expire in a year? And if so - what has changed to make our food expire faster?

[phantom power]

1. I think...

that food does not spoil any faster now than Back In The Day. I think that there is more sensitivity to liability.

Food left out can very often be eaten. But it does increases your risk. And corporations have become more risk-averse over the years, since they periodically get clobbered with lawsuits or bad publicity. Hence the prevailing use of expiration dates.


Also, I would tend to suspect the continuity-editors of Hogan's Heros more than suspect changing biology. TV and movies make little goofs like that all the time. There are entire subcultures dedicated to finding them. like easter eggs.

[JFN1]

2. But this doesn't stop stores from selling expired items

or items close to expiration. And things seem to go bad faster these days, too. Anyone else notice this?

[phantom power]

5. I guess I have not noticed. I suppose longer supply-chains could do that.

Stores have "faced" the items nearest to expiration at least since I was a stockboy. The rule of looking in the back for the best produce/meats/etc is an old one.

[Overseas]

3. As long as Republicans wanting to crush government are in charge,

then yes, our food safety will suffer. That's their style. Cut government agencies that worked well in the past. Since food safety used to be a strong area of good government, Republicans cut the number of inspectors. So that when problems crop up people will complain that government is no good !! Government doesn't work !! SEEEEEE REPUBLICANS ARE RIGHT-- government doesn't work ! (They don't realize that somehow, past administrations didn't have all these food safety problems because they had more inspectors in the field.)


YOu've also been indoctrinated by commercial TV to be germ phobic, worried about poisoning your family with bacteria if you don't spray chlorine all over the place.

So no wonder you're more worried than you used to be.

I just use the smell test with some expiration dates.

[conscious evolution]

12. ''indoctrinated by commercial TV to be germ phobic'

Absolutely right.
THe advetisers for antibacterials have more than earned what they were paid to do by the manufacturers of said products.

[SmokingJacket]

4. For many things, they're older when you buy them.

I've found that with fruit -- as soon as I put it into my fruit bowl, it goes bad. That's because, I think, it's actually a really old apple that's been kept artificially fresh in large gas-filled coolers. As soon as you take it out of the coolers, time catches up.

And some of it is paranoia. That kraft cheese you left out overnight: honestly, it was fine. Cheese is good until it grows mold, and even then it's okay. My grandmother hardly refrigerated anything, not juice or eggs or leftovers. I remember drinking orange juice that had already turned -- it was fizzy! -- but we didn't get sick.

And some of it is just corporate ass-covering. They give you the date at which it *might* possibly be not as fresh as before, but long before it will definitely be bad.

Kitchen filth is much more dangerous than slightly old food, imho.

[conscious evolution]

13. some of it is just corporate ass-covering

I have to wonder if marketing also comes into play.
"Hey look,Ma!The experition date has passed.We need to throw it away and buy some more!"
Frankly,I do not see how a package cake mix can go bad.Same with a lot of food out there.

[thecrow]

6. I have noticed that bread I bake myself

doesn't spoil as fast, even in the refrigerator, as store-bought bread.
Maybe it is the added sugar?

[kestrel91316]

7. Expiration dates allow for stocks to be rotated. And they also insure

INCREASED SALES AND PROFITS, because consumers will throw away unused expiring food and buy new.

I HAVE noticed certain fresh fruits going bad faster than they used to, but they are probably being held in storage longer before sale, and maybe have been irradiated so the surface stays nice while the inside rots.

[Speck Tater]

8. Food doesn't "expire" any faster today.

All that happened was that expire dates got added.

BTW: Some types of cheese are aged at room temperature for anywhere from weeks to many years. Cheese goes bad when mold grows on the surface.

This site: http://corksandcurds.blogspot.com/2007/08/myths-about-moldy-cheese.html

Has some good information on knowing how to identify cheese that's gone bad. (i.e. moldy)

[Mojorabbit]

9. I am not very good at rotating

my pantry and as long as the can is not bulging and the food looks and smells good I go ahead and eat it. Never have had a problem. I read somewhere that cans are fine 18 months or more after expiration date. Probably longer though there may be some nutrient loss.

[codjh9]

10. No - I think a LOT of expiration dates, particularly on cans, boxes, etc. are 'idiot proof' -

in other words, I think they last months longer than that.

[NeedleCast]

14. Exactly

Lots of those dates are dates at which the food could possibly spoil. I've had eggs at my house that have been (and tasted) fine long after their expriation date. In this day of "sue for anything" food providers have to protect themselves and this is one of the methods they use.

I wouldn't roll the dice on things like milk and highly parishable foods or leave a pork chop sitting out at room tempurature for a week before cooking it, but at the same time, I think a lot of those expiration dates are "worst case scenario" dates.

[originalpckelly]

11. It's a TV show.

It's distinctly possible that the sandwich wasn't left out 24 hours. Just sayin'.

[JFN1]

15. I didn't mean the prop, I meant the concept

Of course I understand the sandwich is a prop. But the idea of eating the sandwich did not have any impact on the script, nor on the people who originally watched the show (no outrage over setting a bad example). So my thought has been that food is being created NOT to last as long, for the sake of more profit. Are big companies putting something in the food to make it go bad faster? Do they treat it differently to keep it fresh than we are able to, as consumers?

And it seems to get worse from there. The FDA recently approved fake chocolate. How long will it be before the food we eat is little more than a mix of chemical "preservatives" in a high fructose corn syrup base?