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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jun 2, 2022 8:26:23 GMT -8
So I’ve been sorting meals for some upcoming trips and caught that I had a few Backcountry Pantry meals that were about to pass their expiration date. When I returned from Great Smoky Mountains where I used up some with 2023 dates I tried one of the 2022s for a dinner here at home. And promptly got sick; sort of a low grade stomach ache that lasted off and on for most of a week. Not incapacitating, just a bit energy draining.
Could it have been something else? Sure. But into the trash with the rest of them anyway. the packaging seemed fine but why take a chance on spoiling a trip?
Do you think I was right and the meal was the culprit or simply coincidence? Anyone have experience to share?
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Post by paula53 on Jun 2, 2022 9:18:40 GMT -8
I would give Backcountry a call. That is a very good question.
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swiftdream
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Post by swiftdream on Jun 2, 2022 10:05:18 GMT -8
If you felt sympathetic about 3 hours after consuming its a good bet it was the dinner but I’ve no idea how to completely affirm that. Bacteria can build up toxins that are not destroyed by heat and cooking even though all the bacteria are killed. I’d not take the chance of being incapacitated during a remote trip or any other kind of trip after that experience. I know we love to complain about prices but food is very inexpensive in this country compared to the rest of the world.
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zeke
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Post by zeke on Jun 2, 2022 12:01:37 GMT -8
It wasn't the expiration date that was the problem. That food was still supposed to be good. It was the manufacturing process. I've eaten food years passed the expiration date and been fine. I've had a single experience of food poisoning from food beyond expiration date, and that was Turkey SPAM 5 years beyond their date. Rather instant digestive disorder. Barely had time to drop the pack. I chalked that up to user error.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Jun 2, 2022 12:07:01 GMT -8
My uninformed but nonetheless adamant "guess": If the expiration date was in 2022, there is no way it caused your illness due to age/spoilage. At worst, it was a few months past due, and I can't imagine there being that small a grace period. It could have been bad for another reason of course (mfr defect, pinholes in the packaging, etc), or it could have been something else you ate that day.
EDIT: zeke slipped in ahead of me, but I think we're on the same track. |
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Jun 2, 2022 12:27:58 GMT -8
I also would go with the pinhole theory. If oxygen could get in then the contents could go racid. But that being said if you were sick for a week it sounds more like a pathogen got into your digestive track. If you had a restaurant meal before you left the Smokies then got sick two or three days later I would guess that is more likely the source and the meals were coincidence. I have had that happen to me before. Stuff in their well water no longer bothers them but gave me a low level stomach flu thing. Because of that I try not to eat locally before I am going on to the trail. Don't want to feel like that on the trail. Some of best meals I ever have had have been local after getting off the trail.
I did a night in Harriman park last night and had a Mountain House Steak and Peppers meal in an adventure pouch. It said its best by was in 2053 I think.
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swiftdream
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Post by swiftdream on Jun 2, 2022 12:40:25 GMT -8
When we used to east Mountain House I remember eating some very old meals at one point and never got sick. We really loaded up when sales hit so we kept a rather large surplus. The pinhole theory is a good one. In any case food poisoning that lasts for days will tend to put one off a product.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Jun 2, 2022 12:55:08 GMT -8
One of my daughters got a stomach bug at school. The night it caught up to her we had just had pizza for dinner. Her getting sick had nothing to do with the pizza but she wouldn't eat pizza for about two months.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jun 3, 2022 6:26:53 GMT -8
Most foods’ “expiration date” is actually a “best by” date, meaning flavor may start to degrade. Even a “use by” date has some slop in it; it has to in order to give makers a wide margin for error.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jun 4, 2022 12:00:39 GMT -8
Most foods’ “expiration date” is actually a “best by” date, meaning flavor may start to degrade. Even a “use by” date has some slop in it; it has to in order to give makers a wide margin for error. Yes, I expect others are right, either a pinhole or a coincidence. Flavor degradation (oxidation mostly IIIRC) was what I've long understood as what those dates meant. The other unrelated thing is what was also mentioned above: the strikingly short lifetimes of the BackCountry Pantry stuff versus the freeze-dried MountainHouse when I get a chance 'll have look closer at the packaging: freeze-dried versus dehydrated? |
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Jun 4, 2022 12:16:04 GMT -8
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Post by leadbelly on Jun 5, 2022 15:15:21 GMT -8
I have read MRE’s (crappy military prepackaged meals) can be consumed years after the ‘expiration date,’ though it’s not optimal.
I tend to buy what I need for a trip and consume it. Once in a great while, I unearth meals a few years past due and tend to chuck them.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Jun 5, 2022 15:45:17 GMT -8
A lot of people think MRE's are long term survival food but they are not. They are field rations that are meant to be used within a couple of years. Just enough that they survive from production through bumpy supply lines to use. A #10 can of Mountain House FD has a best by of +25 years. That is long term food.
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