tinned tomatoes - how can i tell if out of date

loopyloulou_3

it says on the bottom

GP1
LT 200
P4

and the other says

GP1
LT 200
P9

what does that mean?!!!!

they may have been lurking in my cupboard for donkeys years (i found one tin that went out of date in 2004 EEEEKKKK!)

useful weights for exercise videos tho!! LOL

thanks

Lou x

ForOurFuture

Those codes don't indicate a best before date. Could they have lurked so long that they are pre dating of products? If I am unsure I would discard ...;)

Mrs(no)money

I think i would discard the tomatoes too, but there was a man on the tv the other week who was celebrating 50 years of marriage and had a tin of chicken that had been given to him around that time. He opened it and declared it 'very tasty'!! :eek: (and obviously lived to tell the tale)!! I think thats taking things a bit too far tho!

ben500

No tomatoes are out of dates! they come from small bushes/vines about knee height usually, dates are the fruit of the palm and stones are out of dates.
HTH;)

naughty_10382

Is there not a date on the top of the can??

wigginsmum

Does the price tag of 2d give you a clue?

kittiwoz

Canned tomatoes should be OK almost indefinitely. Because they are acidic you may find when you open the can that there is some blackish corrosion to the tin on the inside. Tin oxide is basically non toxic (it is a pulmonary irritant if you work in a factory that deals with it and are at risk of inhaling a lot) so you can still eat the tomatoes even if that has happened but there may be a slight metallic taint.

Ted_Hutchinson

Date could be in small print at the bottom of the label. My stock are dated 2007 and 2008 so they have a pretty long shelf life. You can tell if they've blown as the tin starts bulging if there is any fermentation inside.

mah_jong

looks like the coding I have on my tinned toms I got from lidl....if so they will be fine..nothing seems to stay on those shelves (wrong word...piles) for long!!!;)
Mah

Ok ...just looked at date and its in small writing about half inch from the bottom on the bit with all the writing... just below the weight etc!

Contains_Mild_Peril

Unless the tins are blown, I'd assume the contents to be edible! Tinned foods don't usually tend to go bad so long as the tin is properly sealed, and if they taste OK I don't think they'll give you food poisoning. I rarely look at dates on tinned foods in my cupboards, and have probably eaten o.o.d. tinned food a few times. That said, I'd be a little more cautious with meat, fish or dairy contents.

Raksha

When I worked in a canned foods factory, I was told tomatoes are so acidic the will eat into and dissolve the tin and lead in the coating - so it was very important NOT to eat tomtoes that are passed their BBD - for the cost of a tin of tomatoes, is it worth it?