Help – Can You Eat Canned Food After The Date On The Can?

I have a dilemma and I need your advice. Those dates on canned food - are those hard and fast expiration dates, or are they on there because they legally have to be?

We all get a little overzealous sometimes when we see a really good sale and stock up on stuff we probably don't need that much of.

I mean hey, if you were at the store in the middle of winter and saw canned soup for only $0.80 each, you'd grab a couple too, right?

The only problem is when you realize two years later that it's still in your pantry.

That's exactly what happened to me when I was looking for something to eat last night. I grabbed a can of soup that had obviously been there for a while. I say obviously because the date on the can was "May 2013".

Oops.

But I noticed that they don't say "Sell By" or "Use By".

When I think of canned food, I think of the stuff that you stock your shelter or panic room with - soup and vegetables, etc. Stuff that you can put aside for an emergency and doesn't go bad.

But does it? Are those dates on there because the food goes bad after a period of time, or are the dates there because of industry regulations?

Would you eat a can of soup that's two years old or would you trash it? Let me know in the comments section!