Eating or drinking something past its expiration date.

[agent817]

A while back I had watched the Cinemassacre Rental Reviews episode on Under Siege, where Justin showed that he is a huge Steven Seagal fanboy to the point where he has a massive collection of not just movies, but also CDs, a cartridge of an unreleased SNES game, action figures, and of course, cans of a short-lived energy drink from Steven Seagal. I went back and watched the bit where he, Kieran, and James took sips of the energy drink, which was a decade and a half old. The surprising thing that I read was that the three guys didn't get sick from the energy drink, but even drinking a 15-year-old energy drink like that is risky. It even looked like it had fermented over time (it looked like beer, and I'm sure that the drink didn't look like that when it was first distributed), but they said that it didn't taste bad.

Now, I will tell you that I have consumed things past expiration dates. For example, I had put strawberry syrup and chocolate syrup into milk and realized that at least one of them was a few weeks past the date. However, I didn't feel sick from the chocolate milk or strawberry milk that I drank. I have even noticed that cheese can start get moldy before its expiration date, though some have argued that you can eat a piece that isn't green and on a different end.

So has anybody gotten sick from eating or drinking foods or drinks past its expiration date?

[mrpeacock]

On Good Mythical Morning Rhett and Link tried some old Pepsi and it still had carbonation but it had eroded the inside of the can causing the real issues with that. Personally I have an iron stomach and while I don’t eat food intentionally past expiration I have and didn’t end up getting sick.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I have eaten yogurt that was a month or two past the "best before" date on the packaging. The packaging was still sealed and airtight, and there was nothing wrong with the smell or flavour.

I have also eaten stale Old Dutch Popcorn Twists, and it ran through me like a samurai sword through a ninja... felt like the stories you hear about Haribo Sugarless Gummi Bears...

[Natural Born Farmer]

Ate a couple sandwiches today with visible mold on the bread.

Ain't trying to throw out $0.18 worth of bread for a little bacteria that won't kill me.

[Feyrhausen]

Most of those dates are sell by dates. They are just a guide. So say ketchup that had been bought and refrigerated will stay good for awhile past whatever the date is.

Best thing to do is just trust your eyes and nose.

[fw91]

I got nauseous just reading the thread title

[Triangle Lancer]

Another department in our plant had a Coke machine out on the floor that dispensed cans. Since I had 50 cents, I got one.
When I drank it, it had no flavor whatsoever...until I got to the bottom where all the syrup sat.

Yuck. Turned the can over and the "best by" date was 2 1/2 years earlier!

[BlackoutCreature]

With modern food preparation and packaging techniques, if the packaging isn't opened, then there's really no way for the bacteria or parasites that would make you sick to get in. There might be other issues, changes in taste or color, separation of ingredients, loss of nutritional value, etc., but nothing that would do much more then give you a tummy ache and minor bout of diarrhea.

['Foretold' Joker]

If it smells or tastes off then it goes in the bin, but otherwise I'm fine with eating things past the date on the packaging. I am not beholden to the date keepers.

[Cyno]

"Sell by" or "Best by" dates are guidelines and the food inside can last a long time beyond that.

But for actual expiration dates? I don't mess with that unless it's like one or two days over.

[Deleted]

I normally don't touch anything past expiration date.

However, I will make an exception if it's something like unopened chips or snack cakes that are like no more than a week past date.

[legendkiller1985]

I just finished some cans of Bubly water that still had flavor and carbination but the sell by date was November 2020. No side effects

[Kalmia]

If it's only a day or two beyond the expiration date I'll eat/drink anything. Things like crisps, biscuits etc will be fine far past that, just stale and not as tasty.

I wouldn't touch dairy or fresh meat that was more than a couple of days past though.

[Dub H]

Yeh the dates on the products itself is just the date where the product tastes the best.Not actually expiring or going bad.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

[Deleted]

At someone who work in retail. Sell by and best by are just thing for the store so they can rotate out the older stock for the newer stock.

[bibboid]

We have all sorts of stuff that is out of date in our garage. Do I still eat some of it? Sure. Have I taken one bite of some and then spit it out and thrown it straight in the trash because it tasted nasty? Absolutely.

[BlackoutCreature]

If it means any I made a thing of powdered cheddar cheese sauce yesterday that had expired in 2013. It tasted fine and didn't make me sick in the slightest.