Expired food. Caviar

Recently on NightLine I watched a feature on grocery stores that specialize in selling products well past their expiration date. Also items with out of date promos were being sold. It is not illegal and all of the foods sold appear to be perfectly alright. They showed cereals, snacks sports drinks, granola bars, jelly, etc. Milk products are specifically excluded from sale. The stores were in Pennsylvania.

Any stores like that around here?

More specifically, I have a small jar of caviar from Costco with an expiration date of 1/29/8. Think it is still fine? How would one know?

MLS wrote:More specifically, I have a small jar of caviar from Costco with an expiration date of 1/29/8. Think it is still fine? How would one know?

I would think it'd be fine. My assumption is that many times expiration dates err on the side or being too early rather than too late, and in some cases are virtually irrelevant (e.g., meds must carry expiration dates, but some seem not to be too realistic, especially for dry pills, like acetaminophen -- I'm still taking tablets from a plastic bottle that has an expiration date of Oct 2005 -- they seem to work and I feel no ill effects, not surprisingly).

For products like milk, eggs, meat, etc., I tend to follow expiration dates, but for vacuum-sealed food items, like your caviar, I'm guessing it'd be okay...and it "expired" relatively recently.

The real test would be to taste it. If the caviar is mushy or, obviously, off-tasting, dump it -- my guess is that it will taste fine.

David Hammond wrote:... (e.g., meds must carry expiration dates, but some seem not to be too realistic, especially for dry pills, like acetaminophen -- I'm still taking tablets from a plastic bottle that has an expiration date of Oct 2005 -- they seem to work and I feel no ill effects, not surprisingly).

Take it from someone who's seen stability reports on drugs -- you're not likely to get hurt from them (the decomposition products are likely the same ones they'll end up in your system after use), but they may not work well. If aspirin has a strong acidic smell, dump it, it's worthless. Even a "dry" pill, capsule, or a coated tablet is interacting with the oxygen in the air. Past the time from when you bought something is probably OK for Over-The-Counter drugs, but don't push it for prescription stuff where the dose is measured closely based on your weight, for instance.

Is this fresh refrigerated unpasteurized caviar? If so, it doesn't stay fresh for long. The smell should tell though.