What's the oldest food you've eaten?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Old, old food still edible
By Joanna Glasner

02:00 AM Nov. 14, 2005 PT

Next time you feel compelled to clean out the pantry, don't feel bad about putting it off.

A lot of the old food that's gone beyond the manufacturer's expiration date could still be edible for years or decades longer.

Such are the findings of food science researchers who recently subjected a panel of human tasters to samples of really old food. They discovered that artifacts like 20-year-old dried milk and 28-year-old rolled oats were still perfectly edible and sometimes even tasted OK.

"You'd think that shelf life would be much shorter," said Oscar Pike, one of the professors of food science at Brigham Young University who conducted the study. "But that's not the case."

Food scientists have long maintained that certain foodstuffs, like salt, granulated crystal sugar and wheat kernels, can be stored indefinitely at room temperature or below. But Pike said he was uncertain whether a more processed grain, such as a rolled oat, would also stand the test of time.

To find out, researchers prepared oatmeal from 16 samples of regular and quick-cooking rolled oats that had been stored up to 28 years in sealed containers. A panel of tasters rated the oats on aroma, texture, flavor, aftertaste and overall acceptability. Scientists also analyzed the samples' nutritional quality.

The conclusion? Tasters rated the quality of the old oats from 4.8 to 6.7 on an ascending scale from 1 to 9. Three-fourths considered them acceptable in an emergency.

Makers of long-lasting food products aren't surprised that people weren't keen on the taste of 1970s oatmeal.

"Palatability will decline before edibility vanishes," said Gary Hansen, owner of Pleasant Hill Grain, which sells food packages for emergency stockpiling.

Properly stored food, Hansen noted, can be edible longer than one might infer from manufacturers' expiration dates, which typically indicate when a product starts to taste worse or lose some nutritional value.

Hansen said he's seen rising interest in emergency preparedness in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But while the retailer's most popular package -- a supply of dehydrated food to feed one person for a year -- is selling well, customers' level of concern is much lower than in 1999. Then, Americans stockpiled massive quantities in anticipation of a Y2K disaster.

Ted Labuza, a food science and engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, said research has shown that seeds can last for thousands of years if they're not damaged. Processing and improper storage practices that expose items to heat or oxygen are what cause deterioration.

"I've had canned chicken that was stored in a military case for seven years," Labuza recalled. "It was still very edible."

Pike said there are myriad reasons for ultra-long-term food storage, including maintaining surplus food stocks for humanitarian aid or national emergencies. He also doesn't discount the likelihood of individuals keeping stockpiles for years or decades.

In some cases, they already are. To get samples for edibility testing, Brigham Young researchers put an ad in the LDS Church News, a Mormon publication, asking for donations of old packaged food that had been stored under stable conditions. Pike said he chose the periodical for soliciting donations because the church advises members to store a year's supply of food in preparation for hard times.

But even he was surprised to receive samples decades old and still in good condition.

"It's really unique to have food around that long," he said.

― andy --, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

21 yr old wine

10 yr old aged cheddar

?? yr old dehydrated apocalypse food

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

I think mine was decade old aged cheese.

The oldest food I've ever *seen* but did not dare touch... oh, stuff that the Dirt Queen had had mouldering in her kitchen since the 1980's. (This was in 2002, mind you.)

― Lady Totteringby-Gently (kate), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

bea arthur

― ^^^^, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

I had a 1969 Rodney Strong zinfandel once... The same night we smoked some '555' cigarettes that my roommate's granddad bought in Melbourne in 1944 whilst in the Navy. They were still perfectly fresh, wrapped in cellophane... one of the mildest, nicest smokes I've ever had.

― andy --, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Ii have problems using milk thats one day over the expiration date, so basically if it ain't fresh i ain't touching it.

― bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

1000 year old egg.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

I also ate a 7 year old snickers bar. I figured there was nothing to go bad in there - but it tasted pretty stale.

I work with a food pantry too. We have a 22 year old twinkie enshrined in the "Food Donation Hall of Shame". Lots of other great, old food there too.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

18something port, 1911 Chateau D'Yquem.

― Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

I found some packaged mac & cheese in my cupboard once that was a few years beyond its date, and I was hungry and lazy enough to fix it up. The cheese goop was darker than it should have been, and thicker, and didn't really taste that good (it was a store brand, not Kraft or some "leading brand," so maybe it wouldn't have been that good fresh either), but I didn't get sick. I have a few other items like this that I'll get to eventually. I just hate throwing "perfectly good" stuff away.

I have an opened bottle of tomato juice that I took home from my brother's birthday party in Sept '01 (the Saturday before 9/11!) and I sniff it now and then and it seems OK, but I'm just not a tomato juice guy.

I have a bottle of lime juice (Gimlet style, no pulp) that I bought at least 25 years ago. I used in once when I bought it, but otherwise it's the same story as the tomato juice.

I heard once that 3000+ year old honey discovered in Egyptian tombs is still edible.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:49 (twenty years ago)

My stepmom has some chicken buillon cubes from 1985. They smell like urine.

― andy --, Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

not counting booze, probably a 6-8 year old frozen snickers bar (mmm!) and several 5+ year old tins of baked beans and tomatoes

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:29 (twenty years ago)

~~My stepmom has some~~ chicken buillon cubes ~~from 1985. They~~ smell like urine.

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:29 (twenty years ago)

The first time I ate hummus was in junior high school, and I'd never seen it before, so I didn't know what to expect. I pulled out of the back of the fridge one afternoon when I was hungry, got some pita chips and scooped up a huge glob of it and ate it. My mom came into the kitchen and freaked out, as the hummus I was eating was covered in a pretty thick layer of whitish mold.

I'm sure I've eaten older things, but never things made as gross by age.

― Laura H. (laurah), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

i ate a dinosaur

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 17 November 2005 02:53 (twenty years ago)

Last year I got a box of free food. All the cans were just within exp. date. I forgot to check the box of Uncle Ben's rice & sauce mix. I boiled me up a big pot, and started chowing down, while lazily reading the box like you do to cereal boxes in the morning. After a minute my eye was caught by a little "Proud sponsor of the 1994 Olympics!" mark. I stopped chewing and inspected the rice very carefully for grubs or foreign matter, but there was none. It tasted delicious, and besides I already emptied a can of chick peas in there, and I didn't want to waste those, and there was nothing else to eat in the house except another can of beans. It was a perfectly good meal and there were no side effects, so I ate the 2nd 11-year-old box too.

― -rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Thursday, 17 November 2005 03:43 (twenty years ago)

This was after I ate all the other cans in the box except the beans BTW, otherwise I would have had me some soup.

― -rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Thursday, 17 November 2005 03:44 (twenty years ago)

last month i was using an asthma inhaler i found in my apartment that expired in 2001!! does that count?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 17 November 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

the one i'm using now only expired in 2004 so i figure i'm good!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 17 November 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

I tasted some aged-20-years cheddar at a cheese shop in the Wisconsin Dells. It was pretty intense.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 17 November 2005 04:06 (twenty years ago)

mmm

I also have 3-years expired antacids in my cabinet... work good

― -rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Thursday, 17 November 2005 05:32 (twenty years ago)

My grandparents have canned food from the 1960s (and possibly before, as I've never checked the shelves in the far back) in their pantry. I wouldn't eat it, but I'm sure they do.

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Thursday, 17 November 2005 08:15 (twenty years ago)

My husband once ate GREEN stew. It was supposed to be brown.

― Nathalie is in Da Base II Dark (stevie nixed), Thursday, 17 November 2005 08:43 (twenty years ago)

When I moved into my house, I threw away some canned somethings - tomatoes maybe. They were black. I was not tempted to eat them.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Thursday, 17 November 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

30something year old wine.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 17 November 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

50-year old balsamic vinegar

― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Thursday, 17 November 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

hmmm... 10 year old cheddar cheese, port from 1961, 20-year old balsamic vinegar...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 17 November 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41308000/jpg/_41308572_chickentin300.jpg

Husband eats 50-year-old chicken

A man celebrated his golden wedding anniversary by eating a 50-year-old tin of chicken.

Les and Beryl Lailey, of Denton, Gtr Manchester, were given the chicken in a hamper on their wedding day in 1956.

The Buxted Chicken tin remained in their kitchen cupboard until the couple marked 50 years together this month.

"We kept it safe, and I always said 'on my 50th wedding anniversary I'm going to eat that chicken' - so I did," said former soldier, Mr Lailey, aged 73.

"When we got married I'd just come out of the Army and we had very little money, so we did our own buffet.

"We got a hamper as a present and included in it was this whole chicken in a tin. We didn't use it and packed it away and kept it."

Tight vacuum

Mr Lailey, a former soldier, said he had not felt ill since eating the chicken.

The couple were given the chicken on their wedding day

The pair met at an Irish pub in Hulme, Manchester.

"I had to go back to the Army almost straight after we met, but we kept in touch by writing letters. I came home and we got married," Mr Lailey added.

Prof Eunice Taylor, a food safety expert at the University of Salford, said: "Canned food can last indefinitely if it has been sealed properly, although the normal shelf life is about six months.

"If it's done at high temperatures and under high pressure, then the process should create a tight vacuum.

"If anyone is going to eat old canned food, I would suggest they heat it thoroughly first of all, just in case to be extra safe."

― andy --, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:11 (twenty years ago)

That's...beautiful.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:22 (twenty years ago)

My brother once got half way through a yoghurt before realising that yoghurt isn't supposed to taste fizzy. I'm not sure how old it was but it didn't smell good. AND NEITHER DID THE YOGHURT.

― James Ward (jamesmichaelward), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:24 (twenty years ago)

Maybe she's just not a diamond-sorta girl? Love knows no boundaries.

― andy --, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:26 (twenty years ago)

The look on wifey's face is perfect.

― JimD (JimD), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:31 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Cold War crackers found in Brooklyn Bridge! Still edible!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/21/coldwar.trove/index.html

― andy --, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

10000 calories!

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

You need to get fat because the radiation is going to waste you away.

― andy --, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

"The bridge is a popular landmark that links Manhattan to Brooklyn."

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

Thank you CNN.

― andy --, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

I was thoroughly fascinated by fallout shelters as a kid.. I still think they're awesome. There's one near my house with the yellow sign (in an office building), I want to go down there and eat stale crackers and play checkers after the doomsday.

― andy --, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.radshelters4u.com/shelter3.jpg

READY FOR YOUR CALORIES KIDS?

― andy --, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

year-old guiness

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

I just wanna sleep in a hammock!!

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

I've smoked five year old weed. Friend's Dad who was a vaguely famous musician found it in the garage. Zero effect TBH.

Anyone eaten that Italian maggot cheese I forget the name of?

― Treblekicker (treblekicker), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

"You'd think that shelf life would be much shorter," said Oscar Pike, one of the professors of food science at Brigham Young University who conducted the study. "But that's not the case."

Man, it makes SO MUCH SENSE that BYU would do a study on the edibility of really old, not particularly good food such as rolled oats. LDS Chruch asks its members to keep a year's supply of food, consequently a lot of houses in the area have giant pantries.

My parents are super cheap-o and I found out a few years ago that all the holiday candy at Easter, Xmas, etc., my parents had bought the year previous at post-holiday clearence and saved it for the next year's Easter baskets of Xmas stockings. So jellybeans feel obscenely soft and chewy to me now, becuase they're not over a year old when you buy them at the store.

My grandma's even more of a cheapo and I know I've eaten boxes of Rice-A-Roni or Cheerios that were half as old as I am.

― Abbott (Abbott), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

These scientists had 400 year old clam! Nom nom & so on!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/29/clam

(Srsly though. They only discovered it was 400 years old after they killed it...)

― StanM, Monday, 29 October 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

Haha wanted to say something AGAIN about BYU guy. Have fun eating your 20-year-old oats, buddyboy.

― Abbott, Monday, 29 October 2007 19:56 (eighteen years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7068974.stm

― NI, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 13:45 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.