Don’t Eat That! Seven Signs of Good Food Storage Gone Bad

Expiration dates are only an indicator of optimal freshness in canned goods.  Just because your can of food has reached the printed expiration date does not mean it needs thrown out.  Food can be edible and nutritious long past printed expiration dates.  However, canned foods do not stay good forever.  So, expiration dates aside, how can you know when food has gone bad and shouldn’t be eaten?  Here are seven great indicators:

1.  Can or lid is bulging, or excessive pressure is released when can is opened.  Food spoiling builds pressure inside the can that is released when you break the can’s seal.  At the extreme end, this pressure can visibly bulge out the ends of the can.

2.  Can or jar seal is broken.  Seals must be tight to keep food good.  In the early days of my food storage adventure, I had jam that I made and sealed using the “invert the jar full of hot jam” method instead of processing it in a water bath canner (not safe!) and I thought it sealed, but when I went to use some, the seal had come loose on every one of them.  Sad day.  This broken seal is often accompanied by #3 and #4.

3.  Signs of corrosion on the can.  This can show on the outside as rust, or on the inside as corroded can lining.

4.  Food seeping from can seals.  Yep, guaranteed the food inside isn’t worth eating.  This can happen at the top or bottom seal or along the edge seam.

5.  Food looks bad, moldy, or cloudy.  Or maybe there’s little bubbles in it when there shouldn’t be.  Just don’t eat it.

6.  Food smells bad after opening.  Bad smells are a signal that something isn’t right.

7.  Visual signs of insect infestation in dry foods like webbing, larva, or exoskeleton debris.

Package your food right and keep it rotated and you’ll always have fresh foods in your storage to eat.  And there are options for using food that has gone bad so you’re not just throwing it in the trash!  I cover these topics in depth and a whole lot more in my book, Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival!

Keep preparing!
Angela