Out of date ingredient - please don’t judge me…

[Happydaze2]

I’ve been tasked with making a dessert for a bbq at the weekend and have decided on banoffee pie. The recipe I have used before includes a can of Carnation caramel but the one I’ve just found at the back of my cupboard is dated Sept 2019!!! (Needless to say I rarely make desserts!) Is it safe to use, do you think?

I would use a new one because Im cooking for others but there is no logical reason for that at all. Its in a tin, it has no way of going 'off', possibly apart from colour it would be indisguingishable from the new one you'll buy.

It's not on to consider serving food that's four years out of date to unsuspecting guests at someone else's event.

If you go ahead you have to inform them.

@SheIIy Rice left out overnight is far far more likely to make you ill than a can of caramel, even 4 years past the best before. As long as the can is intact and not damaged and the caramel smells and tastes ok it’s highly unlikely to make you ill (canned goods are sterilised). Rice left out overnight is a much bigger food poisoning risk.

You don't need a new one.
It's preserved in the tin.
I'm genuinely upset at suggestions to bin it without compunction.
I hate waste, and in this case there really isn't any need. It's just that people can be more swayed by printed bbe dates, which are an obligatory (and useful) feature of manufactured food, than actual facts. (The date in this case will be useful for profits if it generates a repurchase.)

If for some reason the contents are no good it will be because the canning process has been undermined in some way, and you can test this by pressing the top of the tin. If there is any "give" to the feel, then it's no good.
But that would be if the can got pierced or broken or corroded, which is pretty unlikely for a back-of-the-cupboard find.

Intriguing that pps have suggested it might not be good and testing it out on your family rather than making something for a social gathering is the way to go...that's pretty confused thinking.

Am shocked people so no little about food safety

Rice left out over night - rice not cooled rapidly can give you food poisoning

A tin of caramel? Anything tinned is fine essentially indefinitely due to the canning process. Plus sugar itself is a preservative.

The tin of caramel would be good to eat in 100 years. Actually 200 years.

Is it a best before or a use by date? If the prior, as long as the tin is intact, I'd open and do a smell and taste test and then if ok I'd use it. If the latter, I'd go and buy a new tin as it is made from fresh milk as well as sugar.

When I was a child there were no dates on tinned food.

Anything tinned lasted a lifetime provided the tin wasn't damaged or rusty.

It’s best before - all preserved food is.

Cans literally last forever.It will be absolutely fine.

A very British response. In African and Asian families, it's the norm to leave rice out for people to eat

Never heard of anyone getting sick. I certainly haven't

After the apocalypse a can of tinned condensed milk will still be fine.

So will the tin of fruit cocktail which will inevitably be found beside it.

Well I'll be steering clear of any banoffee pie at the bbq I am attending this weekend ... just in case.

Keep the tinned cake for at home @Happydaze2 or let host know.

@Krabappel It’s definitely a problem in Asia too. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, rice stored at the wrong temperature will always be more dangerous than an unopened, undamaged can of food because the canning process involves food being completely sterilised.

This link about fried rice syndrome is from the Singapore Food Agency, for example. https://www.sfa.gov.sg/food-information/risk-at-a-glance/fried-rice-syndrome

No wonder food waste is astronomically high in this country!

I'd chance it with condensed milk as it's mainly sugar. It keeps well, even years.

Exactly my own position. I'm sure it would be fine to eat it, but I probably wouldn't inflict it on non-family members.

... which is because I would want to impress them with something really nice I'd made, not because I thought it would lead to food poisoning. I don't see how it could. My logic is that a really old tin might not give as good a result as a new one.

Am I the only one who thinks you should make the sauce and not use a can period?

Otherwise you might as well just buy a ready made banoffee pie as you’re only assembling pre-made ingredients.

Homemade will be much nicer and caramel is really quick and easy to make.

A caramel tin from 2019 will be fine though.

I'd eat it

I often have tins of caramel far past BB date, I have found though that sometimes there are crystallised lumps in the tin. Just opened one the other day to use and it was unusable, well I heated it and strained it but only got about half the tin, the rest was just lumps of sugar so the decision might be made for you when you open it! Nearest Polish shop will have tins of caramel at reasonable price.

It's canned so it will be fine now and in 50 years time assuming the can is undamaged.

However for a party I would buy new or make from scratch.

I'd buy a fresh one for the party & use the existing one at home.

I have opened a condensed milk can and it was off and thoroughly gross. This could be similar. Milk products can go rancid.

100% this will be fine. Tinned goods are ok for years & years. The contents are preserved & sealed. No air can get at them to spoil it.
It wouldn't occur to me not to eat it & I wouldn't think it necessary to mention it. This is NOT a safety issue.