# Eating Nuts After Best Before Date



## michaelgnocchi

Hi everyone,

I have a question regarding nuts.  I have an assortment of nuts (almonds, planters mixed, pecans, cashews, etc.) that are about 1-3 years after their best before date.  Does anyone know if I can still eat these or should I throw all of them away?
 

Thanks for your help,

Michael


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## french fries

Keep in mind that nuts don't grow with a best before date on them. The only reason the ones you buy have one is that the distributors are legally bound to put one on the package. This is kinda like best before dates on frozen products or cans: those products really never expire, so the distributors put some kind of random "best before" date to please the lawmakers. 

We had a walnut tree when I grew up, and we kept the nuts for years in the cave without writing the year they were picked on them. 

So first things first: forget there's even a Best Before date printed on the packet. 

Now how do you know if a nut is good or not? You shell it, and eat it. Is it good? Great, you can eat it. Does it taste rancid? Then you're SOL. They won't make you sick, they just taste horrible.


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## berndy

If the nuts were stored in a freezer they will be fine ,otherwise you'll find out real fast if they taste rancid.by just eating one.


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## scubadoo97

berndy said:


> If the nuts were stored in a freezer they will be fine ,otherwise you'll find out real fast if they taste rancid.by just eating one.


+1. One taste will tell you.


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## french fries

Actually even smell will tell you.


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## siduri

For some foods, being old can be dangerous but for nuts they just taste bad. 

And some foods can kill you and there's no taste to warn you.  But my personal rule of thumb is things that are wet (meat, canned stuff, leftover cooked food, etc) might be dangerous when expired, but dry things (nuts, cereal, etc) just taste bad.  I guess there are exceptions, you can get some dangerous molds on dry stuff, but you usually smell it and see it.  I don;t know about ergot on rye.  But i think the really dangerous things like botulism need moisture to grow.


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## french fries

> Originally Posted by *siduri*
> 
> canned stuff (...) might be dangerous when expired


There's no reason for anything canned to be dangerous when expired. A can is either safe or not, and if it's safe it pretty much never expires. If it wasn't canned properly then it's probably not safe even if consumed way before the expiration date.

So while you can get bad food in a can, the expiration date on a can is completely meaningless.


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## chefedb

Sorry don't agree. Cans if kept in a warm or up and down temperature enviorment can go bad ,ferment and  blow or springer. In particular low acid foods like mushrooms,greenbeans etc. As far as nuts grown with date on them ? left there they will go bad. The manufacturers put a date for aa specific reason. They know their product and its tendencies better then we do, I would listen  to them. Also if you think it bad, DONT taste it . When in doubt ,THROW IT OUT  even a small taste could hurt you

as low acid breeds Botulism spores and thats kinda deadly.


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## jellly

Technically rancid oils (and this applies to the natural oils in nuts) are considered carcinogenic.  However, it's easy to taste, so just don't eat them if they taste stale.


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## french fries

chefedb said:


> Sorry don't agree. Cans if kept in a warm or up and down temperature enviorment can go bad ,ferment and blow or springer.


That's correct -and maybe I was too black and white when I said a can is either good or bad-, but my point was that it has strictly nothing to do with the expiration date. The expiration date on a can doesn't mean anything at all. It is there purely for legal reasons. I have had cans start bulging only a few weeks after buying them, years before the expiration date.

This was explained to me by a family member who works in the food industry for a smaller company that sells all sorts of canned goods. Part of her job was to figure out the expiration dates, and that was a completely arbitrary process that is completely unrelated to any kind of statistical chance of the product going bad before, after or around that date. She said that if it wasn't for the law it would make more sense not to have any date on the can, but because of the law, they had to put some kind of date on there.


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## michaelgnocchi

Thank you all for you responses.  You've all been very informative.  I had no idea that the best before dates didn't mean anything on nuts and the companies were legally bound to put them on.  I'll open the cans and start to eat a few but I have to be honest, I'm a little afraid but I'll give it ago.  Does this all apply to nuts that have oil and salt on them and also just raw nuts don't are natural like cashews, etc. 

Thanks.


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## chefedb

Another point about dating. The soda maufacturers are now dating. Main reason being it makes the retailer purchase more often as they do not take back out of date from them ( Diet Colas  after about a year in the can losses all its atificial sweetness taste) even in the fridge. I ALWAYS WONDER WHERE IT GOES?


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## berndy

Even bottled water has an expiration date.

What can go bad with water ???


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## siduri

berndy said:


> Even bottled water has an expiration date.
> 
> What can go bad with water ???


ah, germs? plastic that has leached into the water?


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## berndy

i understand that contamination will make our water harmful,*BUT* water itself has no expiration date; it has been here since the beginning of our planet and we use the same water over and over .


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## chefhow

French Fries said:


> That's correct -and maybe I was too black and white when I said a can is either good or bad-, but my point was that it has strictly nothing to do with the expiration date. The expiration date on a can doesn't mean anything at all. It is there purely for legal reasons. I have had cans start bulging only a few weeks after buying them, years before the expiration date.
> 
> This was explained to me by a family member who works in the food industry for a smaller company that sells all sorts of canned goods. Part of her job was to figure out the expiration dates, and that was a completely arbitrary process that is completely unrelated to any kind of statistical chance of the product going bad before, after or around that date. She said that if it wasn't for the law it would make more sense not to have any date on the can, but because of the law, they had to put some kind of date on there.


That's not completely true. Different canned goods have best buy or shelf life dates due to many reasons. If there are spices or herbs in the product then there are inherently micro counts in the canned good, especially in nuts which dont go thru anything more than a cook of the nut itself to roast it. If its in a canned or retorted product depending upon whether the herb/spice/onion/garlic/tomato... was treated will depend upon how long it can last in a can. If the canned good goes into the can raw and cooked in the can as part of the retort there is a VERY good chance that in 18-24 months the product will start to spoil. If the product is cooked, cooled, canned and then retorted(recooked) then the shelf life will be much longer since its been thru a kill step, and then all the oxygen has been removed and a 2nd kill step has been put in process.

The thing to remember is Garlic, Onion and all spices and herbs need to be treated somehow and Steam treatment isnt a very effective way of killing most of the harmful micro organisms that make us sick. Right now, today I am on a wild goose chase for Organic spices and herbs that meet certain micro counts for topical applications. There has been a Salmonella warning issued by the FDA and a recall of MANY Organic herbs, spices and dehydrated veggies because of the lack of treatment allowed to maintain the Organic status. And to think its only Tuesday...


berndy said:


> i understand that contamination will make our water harmful,*BUT* water itself has no expiration date; it has been here since the beginning of our planet and we use the same water over and over .


Its not the water than goes bad, its the leeching of the plastic that makes the water bad. Harmful chemicals thru heating and cooling will turn the water brown, make it have an off taste and aroma or just infuse carcinogens into the water itself.

Edit: Didnt mean to derail the thread, and to answer some questions, eating nuts after the best buy date or past the manufacturers date can be worse than you think depending upon what is on the nuts. If its just some Sea Salt then I wouldnt be as worried, just some rancid toppical or nut oils, they wont taste good and you will know generally from the smell. If they have something like a BBQ, Cheese, or garlic/onion seasoning just throw it away. Those all have high micro counts and depending upon who the nut company is will depend upon what type of treatment they allow on the seasoning that goes on the nuts. I have and will always use my old restaurant expression, WHEN IN DOUBT THROW IT OUT!!!


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## french fries

chefhow said:


> That's not completely true. Different canned goods have best buy or shelf life dates due to many reasons.


It's worth pointing out that that the person who told me that worked for a company that prepared high end prepared foods, so fancy cans of cooked vegetable dishes, or curry pastes, etc. She told me those products never expire and you could safely eat them 20, 30 years after the best before date.


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## chefhow

French Fries said:


> It's worth pointing out that that the person who told me that worked for a company that prepared high end prepared foods, so fancy cans of cooked vegetable dishes, or curry pastes, etc. She told me those products never expire and you could safely eat them 20, 30 years after the best before date.


Give me your address and I will send you some cans from shelf life studies that failed because of high micro count garlic. I have cases of them that we had to take back since we supplied the seasoning that had the garlic that caused the failure and spoilage.


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## french fries

chefhow said:


> Give me your address and I will send you some cans from shelf life studies that failed because of high micro count garlic. I have cases of them that we had to take back since we supplied the seasoning that had the garlic that caused the failure and spoilage.


So did you notice that all those cans were good up until the expiration date on the can, then went bad after that date?


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## chefhow

French Fries said:


> So did you notice that all those cans were good up until the expiration date on the can, then went bad after that date?


The most recent batch that I am speaking of didn't make it to the expiration date. The problem was with the garlic, it had a high enough micro load that it caused the product to spoil in the can.


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## french fries

Ah I see - that was kind of my point (but I may have been sidetracked in some of my - wrong - statements): that those expiration dates don't mean much.


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## chefhow

French Fries said:


> Ah I see - that was kind of my point (but I may have been sidetracked in some of my - wrong - statements): that those expiration dates don't mean much.


Gotcha, I understood you as saying that they NEVER expire no matter what the expiration date is its not necessary.


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## cschaka

French Fries said:


> There's no reason for anything canned to be dangerous when expired. A can is either safe or not, and if it's safe it pretty much never expires. If it wasn't canned properly then it's probably not safe even if consumed way before the expiration date.
> 
> So while you can get bad food in a can, the expiration date on a can is completely meaningless.


I definitely do not agree with "French Fries". The preservatives used DO have an expiring date. After this date, the food stored in the can isn't safe to eat anymore.


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## french fries

cschaka said:


> I definitely do not agree with "French Fries". The preservatives used DO have an expiring date. After this date, the food stored in the can isn't safe to eat anymore.


I just looked at my cans. None of them have any preservatives.


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## mikelm

The bureaucrats _are_ taking good care of us, though...

We recently bought a package of salt, *with an expiration date.*

It wasn't another fifty or eighty million years away, either, just a date sometime in the early years of the Clinton administration. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Mike /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif


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## luc_h

I understand this is an old thread but things need to be clarified here:

Expiry Dates are for foods that are potentially hazardous i.e. fresh meat, fish and soft moist foods with minimal heat treatment that can harbour pathogens even when stored in cold temperatures (potato salad, vacuum packed cold cuts, store made uncanned pasta sauce). The time varies from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Standards are set by the FDA according to the type of food, pH and water activity.

There are Best Before dates: they represent the approximate date where a non-hazardous food product, if store correctly according to the manufacturer's guidelines, may become altered organoleptically (taste, smell, colour, texture,...) outside a standard that the manufacturer has set as acceptable. These dates range from 3 months to up to 2 years (I think the latter is the maximum)

The FDA imposes that EVERY food has an <end> date so that Food providers may implement a FIFO program (First In First Out) and it can be monitored by a 3rd party inspection.

Any and ALL canned foods (either high or low acid) are <Commercially sterilized> using high temperature and pressure. There are strict time tables to follow. It is the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that every single canned products they sell are sterile by implementing a tight HACCP monitoring program.

In conclusion: Legitimate canned foods means they are processed correctly and will never have any microbiological activity even after their best before date. (they are eternal). That said it is the sellers responsibility (the grocery store or distributor) that canned foods remain undamaged: free from corrosion, dents, leaks and punctures (a contamination hazard by micropore infiltration)

@French Fries is correct here.

Luc H.


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## luc_h

Since we diverted from the OP's original question, I will offer my response.

whole unshelled nuts may last a very long time at room temperature (years).

Unshelled nuts will go rancid.  To prevent that from happening manufacturers sometimes inject CO2 (or another gas) in the package to prevent oxidation (rancidity) until the best before date.

Rancid nuts smell and taste like oil based paint (very chemical). They will not kill you but they have lost most of their nutritious value and should be discarded.

As mentioned previously, store nuts in the freezer (for ever if you want).

Luc H.


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## i see food

canned food is sealed airtight therefore if there's bacteria is inside the can product and it starts to ferment it will build up pressure and the can will start to bloat. the lid on the can will push up in the middle which normally is flat or sunk in bit. If it is bloated and the lid is pushing up throw it away.


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## foodpump

Usually, but not always, canned roasted nuts have a ridiciously low moisture content, around 10-20% if memory serves me right. Bacteria need moisture in order to survive and grow, and frankly, there isn't enough free water in that can of roasted nuts to support bacterial growth.

This is something pretty much every culture in the world has acknowledged and taken advantage of. Basic food preservation. 

But the oils in the nuts will always go rancid, usually within a year or two. Freezing helps.

Hope this helps on an otherwise very old thread.


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