|
A feast for one; I retrieve my frying pan. This is not
an isolated experiment or a sad symptom of my radical frugality. With a
spirit of teenage rebellion, I disavow any regard for expiration dates.
The fact is that expiration dates mean very little. Food starts to
deteriorate from the moment it's harvested, butchered, or processed, but the
rate at which it spoils depends less on time than on the conditions under
which it's stored. Moisture and warmth are especially detrimental. A package
of ground meat, say, will stay fresher longer if placed near the coldest
part of a refrigerator (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit), than next to the
heat-emitting light bulb. Besides, as University of Minnesota food scientist
Ted Labuza explained to me, expiration dates address quality—optimum
freshness—rather than safety and are extremely conservative. To account for
all manner of consumer, manufacturers imagine how the laziest people with
the most undesirable kitchens might store and handle their food, then test
their products based on these criteria.
With perishables like milk and meat, most responsible consumers (those who
refrigerate their groceries as soon as they get home, for instance) have a
three–to-seven-day grace period after the "Sell by" date has elapsed. As for
pre-packaged greens, studies show that nutrient loss in vegetables is linked
to a decline in appearance. When your broccoli florets yellow or your green
beans shrivel, this signals a depletion of vitamins. But if they haven't
lost their looks, ignore the printed date. Pasta and rice will taste fine
for a year. Unopened packs of cookies are edible for months before the fat
oxidizes and they turn rancid. Pancake and cake mixes have at least six
months. Canned items are potentially the safest foods around and will keep
five years or more if stored in a cold pantry. Labuza recalls a
seven-year-old can of chicken chunks he ate recently. "It tasted just like
chicken," he said.
|
