Tins that are a bit squashed. Or very squashed.

snowgirly

Confused_and_Bewildered wrote: »

Well I was always told it was really bad to eat the food from them but I had some delivered this week and ate them 'cos it was all we had. Are we all going to be violently sick soon? Would you eat food out of them?

Do you know the expiration date of it? I think before eating or buying food in can/tin, we should look for the date or time it was manufactured or its expiration.

spinybif_2

The concern is that the airtight seal could be broken allowing the food to be contaminated with bacteria leading to food poisoning.

snowgirly

spinybif wrote: »

The concern is that the airtight seal could be broken allowing the food to be contaminated with bacteria leading to food poisoning.

Well I guess, it must be checked first before opening it for consumption, we can always detect if there is a leakage or something in it.

RobertoMoir

The thing is, I'd like to think people check everything before cooking / eating it. I don't rely on whether or not a tin has been dented or how near or far an arbitry date on a package is, I look at everything I use, and I assumed everyone else did too...

Dr.Shoe_2

Dented tins are fine. A simple test for integrity is to shake them and if they rattle or there is no movement of the contents at all then you should discard (except for products that shouldn't move like steamed puddings, petfood, corned beef, salmaon and the like). If there is any leakage or signs of leakage ten they should be discarded. As a general rule if the side of the tin's dented then it will be fine.

stumpycat

As arsenaljamie said, the concern is that the film inside the can will have been broken and the contents will have come in contact with the metal (more of a problem if the contents are acidic, like tomatoes)

I did Microbiology at Uni 20-odd years ago and even then, they had trouble getting contaminated tins for using in practicals & had to pierce the tin & add microbes. Apparently before that, you could find tins that were really swollen with infection... :eek:
So I reckon the risk of microbial spoilage is pretty small these days.

If a tin is really bashed however, the volume will be significantly decreased, so the pressure goes up... and you have an attractive fountain effect of food over your kitchen when you open the tin. :rotfl:

Ben84

I usually give the tin a squeeze, because you can feel the difference I think when it's no longer properly sealed.

On a slightly off topic note, my local supermarket sometimes has tins with no labels for 5p on the reduced counter. I wonder who buys them and if the contents are a good or bad surprise? You might buy it for tea and find it's cat food.

Sharon87

stumpycat wrote: »

As arsenaljamie said, the concern is that the film inside the can will have been broken and the contents will have come in contact with the metal (more of a problem if the contents are acidic, like tomatoes)

I did Microbiology at Uni 20-odd years ago and even then, they had trouble getting contaminated tins for using in practicals & had to pierce the tin & add microbes. Apparently before that, you could find tins that were really swollen with infection... :eek:
So I reckon the risk of microbial spoilage is pretty small these days.

If a tin is really bashed however, the volume will be significantly decreased, so the pressure goes up... and you have an attractive fountain effect of food over your kitchen when you open the tin. :rotfl:

I remember my mum opening a dented tin of pineapples... juice went everywhere! Was so funny, but she never bought dented cans if she could help it from then on!

nesssie1702

A dented can is fine so long as the seams aren't damaged. Essentially, the can contents are sterile, due to the way it's been processed. However, if there's any damage to the seam allowing bacteria to get in, that's when things can get nasty.

The Typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen in the 1960s originated from canned corned beef from South America. The cans had been cooled with dirty water and due to a damaged can seam that let the bacteria into the can.... Poor old William Low (supermarket) got the blame for spreading it as the meat slicer on the deli wasn't cleaned. Classic case of cross-contamination

http://www.historyscotland.com/features/aberdeentyphoid.html