Top 5 Foods to Never Eat Past the Expiration Date | Food Safety Tips (2024)

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Top 5 Foods to Never Eat Past the Expiration Date | Food Safety Tips? ›

The expiration date is based on scientific testing determining when the food is at its safest and freshest. After that date, the food may have poorer quality due to deteriorating properties of the food, grow harmful bacteria, or lose its nutritional value.

The expiration date is based on scientific testing determining when the food is at its safest and freshest. After that date, the food may have poorer quality due to deteriorating properties of the food, grow harmful bacteria, or lose its nutritional value.

Honey has been called the only food that truly lasts forever, thanks to its magical chemistry and the handiwork of bees. The nectar from flowers mixes with enzymes inside the bees that extract it, which changes the nectar's composition and breaks it down into simple sugars that are deposited into honeycombs.

Those packages of salad mixes, spinach and arugula are fineto eat past the due date. If the leaves have wilted, just cut off those bits before use. When your greens are starting to decay though (think mushy, slimy leaves), it's time to chuck.

Good news: Shelf-stable canned goods are safe more or less indefinitely, lasting up to five years or more according to the USDA.

As long as the eggs have been properly stored at 40°F or below, they are safe to eat past the expiration date marked on the carton—usually three to five weeks from the day you place them in the refrigerator. Of course, when in doubt, do not eat the eggs and compost them instead.

Snack foods contain preservatives in order to maintain shelf life. Different types of snacks have varying expiration dates: Potato chips will last one month after expiration date. Crackers and pretzels can last up to three months. One of the longest lasting snacks is popcorn, which has a shelf life of one to two years.

"Non-perishables can be kept and consumed past the expiration date with only taste, quality and nutrition compromised," Petre says. So while non-perishables, like chips, might go stale over time, they shouldn't be unsafe to eat after their expiration.

You can keep peanut butter in the pantry for six to nine months (unopened) and two to three months (opened).

What food no longer exists? ›

First found in a tomb in Ancient Egypt, honey is about 5,500 years old. Revered in ancient Egypt, honey remains edible over long periods. In 2015, while excavating tombs in Egypt, the archaeologists found about 3000-year-old honey that was fully edible.

Dark chocolate, with its higher cacao content, can be good to eat for as long as three years past the best before. Due to their high milk contents, milk and white chocolates might not last as long as dark, but their longevity is still nothing to sniff at — you can expect to get another 8 months or so out of it.

On those egg cartons, if an expiration date appears, it can be no more than 30 days after the pack date. "As long as they're kept properly refrigerated at 40°F or lower, fresh eggs are safe to eat four to five weeks beyond the carton's Julian date," Maloberti says.

Canned goods and shelf-stable foods like boxed macaroni-and-cheese have greater latitude than their perishable cousins. Unopened, they can be eaten a year or two past their expiration dates, although there have been more extreme examples.

Sell-By Date: Refers to the last day a retailer can display a product for sale; typically a food is safe to eat for 10 days after the Sell-by Date if refrigerated properly. Use-By Date: Refers to the last day a product will maintain its optimum freshness, flavor, and texture.

Spoiled food will usually look different in texture and color, smell unpleasant, and taste bad before it becomes unsafe to eat. Foodborne illness comes from contamination, not from the natural process of decay.

Most of the time you will not get hurt eating expired food, it may simply not taste as good. If you're curious about what can happen if you eat expired foods, then there are a few of the possible side effects you can experience. One of the most serious things that can happen by eating expired foods is food poisoning.

Most candies do have expiration dates, but like most foods, these dates serve more as guidelines for when to consume them. It's generally fine to eat candy past its expiration date, though the quality and texture does decline after a certain point.