More about food: When does it go bad?

As you know, I've been experimenting with packaged foods I haven’t tried before—some of them past their best if used by date. Was I asking for trouble? Did I miraculously dodge illness and poisoning? According to this article in the New York Times, nah, not really.

Here’s the first thing you should know: Expiration dates are not expiration dates. 

Food product dating, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls it, is completely voluntary for all products (with the exception of baby food, more on that later). Not only that, but it has nothing to do with safety. It acts solely as the manufacturer’s best guess as to when its product will no longer be at peak quality, whatever that means. Food manufacturers also tend to be rather conservative with those dates... 

...So long as there is no outward sign of spoilage (such as bulging or rust), or visible spoilage when you open it (such as cloudiness, moldiness or rotten smells), your canned fruits, vegetables and meats will remain as delicious and palatable as the day you bought them for years (or in the case of, say, Vienna sausages at least as good as they were to begin with).

So the “expired” goods you might pick up at a dicey looking tent in Quartzsite, or discover in the far corner or your cupboard, are probably fine, if they ever were.