Crisco expiration date?!?!

[yellowsprings]

I don't think this has been discussed yet. When I was at Sam's Club, I noticed that the Crisco I picked up now has an expiration date?!?! I have always read that it is good indefinately until it is opened and once opened, good for one year.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[rafter]

I thought they always had an expiration date. I know I just opened a can the other day from 1999, and its as good as something just purchased.

 

[Deemy]

it's just a way to protect themselves

 

[Homestyle]

I'm using Crisco from 1998 it tastes fine. I have lard that is much older than that that I use too.

 

[summerthyme]

It's likely CYA... most expiry dates are. Look at it this way- if it's dated, at least you know you're not buying cans which are several years old already!

I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me if Sam's Club insists on some kind of dating, if only to help them keep their own inventory systems straight.

And AFAIK, it does have pretty well an indefinite shelf life. Especially if it's in sealed METAL cans.

Why metal? Because plastic (only the 6# cans are metal anymore, at least around here) lets air and (if the label isn't there) light through- tiny amounts, in the case of the oxygen, but it is slightly permeable. This means eventually, stuff in plastic will go rancid.. and much faster than the same product in glass. In the case of Crisco, that may mean in 5 years, rather than 15 years.....

I learned that the hard way with Miracle Whip. The quart glass jars I bought in 1999 kept beautifully. But I found some on sale in plastic jars (at Sam's) in 2002, when I was getting "low" on my Y2k stash. When I went to use one in 2003 (about 8 months later, after I'd finally used up the last of my 4 year old Miracle Whip in glass- which was still fine), it was rancid and horrible tasting. All three of the larger plastic jars were bad. I was glad I didn't stock up on them for Y2k...

Salad dressings are the same...if you find a great deal on some in glass bottles, grab them. If they're in plastic, only buy what you can use within about 3 months of the expiration date.

Unfortunately, almost everything is being packaged in plastic these days :-(

Summerthyme

 

[hughmanity]

Expiration dates allow companies to build in obsolence into the market place.

 

[yellowsprings]

The website still states that it is good indefinately.

Here is the link:
http://www.crisco.com/about/faqs.asp

I am still wondering why they put the expiration date in the package. I will have to look at other sizes at other stores on my shopping trip next month. Maybe I will email them and find out! If I hear back from them I will post it.

Thanks all!

 

[connie]

I imagine that they are required by the FDA to put some kind of expiration date on it. I think all packaged food has some kind of date. Some say "use by" others say "Best when purchased by" etc.. Semantics, but the wording may tell you it will keep forever!!

 

[monkeyface]

Still using my butter crisco bought in 97 and it's still good. I have opened one can that was a tiny bit grainy at the end of the can. But I think it was kept in a warmer spot than the other 89 cans were. LOL Since the kids moved out, I sure haven't done a lot of baking as you can tell, going from 15 people down to 2 is kinda hard for me.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Crisco came on the scene in 1911
The term "heart attack" came shortly thereafter.
Neither rats nor mice will eat Crisco or margarine.

That should tell you something.

 

[grommit]

The question of whether Crisco is still "good" is a rather strange question. In spite of it's flavor and ability to remain on shelves unchanged virtually indefinitely, I am convinced that it was never "good" for human consumption. It is the original manufactured and modified convenience food.

They took cotton seed oil, from non food plants that had far fewer insecticide and herbicide limitations on it so that the chemical build up can be rather higher than "food" plants, and pressed out the oil. Then they bubble hydrogen through it under high heat to chemically modify it from a polyunsaturated liquid oil into a solid saturated fat with random chemical bonds that can not even be quantified in their unnatural diversity nor in their effects on the human body.

Since the body no longer gets the natural precisely made oil molecules made one at a time with precise catalists in the plant cells that each cell needs to build cell membranes to allow oxygen, insulin and thousands of chemicals in and out of the cells in a precise manner , the body builds with the fat molecules that are available and are "almost" right. This results in many degenerative diseases ranging from heart disease to diabetes to arthritis.

No, I am not accusing crisco of being solely responsible for literally millions of deaths each year. They were simply the first company that took the easy and profitable path of poisoning us in this precise manner. It is now difficult to find a food containing more than 3 ingredients that does not do the same thing to us.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Well, they put expiration dates on soda and beer these days!!!

Wazzup wid dat??

 

[blue gecko]

I never use the stuff. Grommit and Hoosier make the case. Crisco is nothing but pure transfatty acids...very bad for you. As they break down they form copious amounts of free radicals. Free radicals WILL FIND A WAY TO STABILIZE and they do that by picking up oxygen and electrons from your body's tissues. In doing this they damage those tissues and your body responds by forming scar tissue (cholesterol) to ease the irritation. This time of year I use lard/butter for pies but most of my fats/oils are olive, butter and if I can find a good source, Coconut. BG