robjg63: Canned food should be fine for years unless the can starts rusting or has a hole.

Still waiting to hear back from MPI. There are four tins of Oak Baked Beans in Ham Sauce. They all have the tab top openers. They exploded with enormous force and the sound was like a gunshot going off. The first two caught me completely by surprise. In both cases I merely shifted the cans, the first one as I moved it out of the way while searching for something else, the second when I picked it up to inspect it. In both cases I barely disturbed them. The third one I triggered while attempting to relieve the pressure. I put it under running cold water first but as soon as I touched the lid, it exploded. The fourth one is still intact, but visibly swollen. 

The explosions were incredibly forceful. One of them lifted the entire lid off and I'm still not sure what happened to it. The can looked like it had been opened with an opener. The lid came off cleanly where the seam is. The first two explosions, which caught me by surprise, made me go deaf for a few minutes. It was painful and intense but then the hearing gradually came back to normal. I don't think there has been lasting damage, though it is hard to tell for certain.

I was lucky that the tins exploded in the cupboard. If I had been holding one and looking down at it, I might have lost my eyes. This kind of thing should never happen. Food going off is one thing, but this is dangerous on a whole different level. That is why I freaked out and started this thread and it is why I will try to pursue this with the authorities.

Have you contacted Watties / Oak yet to ask how old they are? If we're potentially looking at say a ~5yr old can I'd highly doubt MPI will have any interest at all in this.

sbiddle:

 

Have you contacted Watties / Oak yet to ask how old they are? If we're potentially looking at say a ~5yr old can I'd highly doubt MPI will have any interest at all in this.

 

 

 

Not yet. I'm going to start now. I still have to photograph the cans. Even if they are 10 years old, surely it is not acceptable for them to fail like this?

Ge0rge:

Hammerer:

We used to buy Oak Baked Beans in Ham Sauce. They were made in Australia.

http://www.heinzwatties.co.nz/About-Us/Got-a-question

• How long do canned foods retain their taste, goodness and nutritional value?


• 
  

  When stored in a cool, dry place, canned foods retain their taste, goodness and nutritional value for two to three years.

  
  

We have access to a bach in the bush. I've eaten tinned food over there that's upwards of ten years old that still tasted great, with no ill effects. I think the expiry dates are often there to cover the makers ass - in the same way that honey has an expiry date on the bottle, yet was found in the pyramids still perfectly fine.

I've also put un-opened tins of corn in an open fire - that bang inside a cupboard with your head next to it would have been horrendous.

Rikkitic:

sbiddle:

Have you contacted Watties / Oak yet to ask how old they are? If we're potentially looking at say a ~5yr old can I'd highly doubt MPI will have any interest at all in this.

 

Not yet. I'm going to start now. I still have to photograph the cans. Even if they are 10 years old, surely it is not acceptable for them to fail like this?

 

 

Rikkitic:

 

sbiddle:

 

Have you contacted Watties / Oak yet to ask how old they are? If we're potentially looking at say a ~5yr old can I'd highly doubt MPI will have any interest at all in this.

 

 

 

 

Not yet. I'm going to start now. I still have to photograph the cans. Even if they are 10 years old, surely it is not acceptable for them to fail like this?

 

 

 

 

 

It's perfectly normal, especially if it was 10 years old. One of the most common issues is over time the food acid reacts with the can itself. This will vary depending on the actual content of the can and whether it's low or how acid content.

Rikkitic:

 

Even if they are 10 years old, surely it is not acceptable for them to fail like this?

 

I think your expectations are a little high in this instance.

OK, I got in touch with Watties and they gave me the usual 'we're not liable' runaround, which doesn't surprise me. There is no consumer date information of any kind on the labels, but from the super-secret mystery code number stamped on the bottom of one of the cans, they tell me the can is 10 years old! That does surprise me. 

I am as sure as I can be that at least some of these cans are of a much more recent date, but I can't prove it and this has now got me questioning my memory, which is unreliable at the best of times. I truly don't understand how they could be that old, if in fact they all are, but even if they are, they shouldn't be going off like grenades. They really are dangerous. 

Apart from that, I had a heated discussion with the 'customer relations' person about the lack of consumer information on the label. She kept prattling on about how they were within the law but I would think that knowing the date of manufacture would be pretty basic and important consumer information. That shouldn't be hidden behind a secret company code.

I think that initially I may have confused some of the beans with ham sauce cans with much more recent ones in tomato sauce that I bought not all that long ago, and when the ham sauce ones exploded, I thought all of them were dangerous which is why I posted what I did. That may now not be the case, but I am still going to pursue this with MPI if I can. Even if the cans are 10 years old, it is not acceptable that they should explode like this. I have no doubt that there are plenty of other pantries in the country with 10 year-old tinned goods in them, and what if a child handles one? These really are dangerous and the danger is made worse by the lack of consumer-readable date information on them. What the hell is Watties trying to hide?

Rikkitic:

 

OK, I got in touch with Watties and they gave me the usual 'we're not liable' runaround, which doesn't surprise me. There is no consumer date information of any kind on the labels, but from the super-secret mystery code number stamped on the bottom of one of the cans, they tell me the can is 10 years old! That does surprise me. 

 

I am as sure as I can be that at least some of these cans are of a much more recent date, but I can't prove it and this has now got me questioning my memory, which is unreliable at the best of times. I truly don't understand how they could be that old, if in fact they all are, but even if they are, they shouldn't be going off like grenades. They really are dangerous. 

 

Apart from that, I had a heated discussion with the 'customer relations' person about the lack of consumer information on the label. She kept prattling on about how they were within the law but I would think that knowing the date of manufacture would be pretty basic and important consumer information. That shouldn't be hidden behind a secret company code.

 

I think that initially I may have confused some of the beans with ham sauce cans with much more recent ones in tomato sauce that I bought not all that long ago, and when the ham sauce ones exploded, I thought all of them were dangerous which is why I posted what I did. That may now not be the case, but I am still going to pursue this with MPI if I can. Even if the cans are 10 years old, it is not acceptable that they should explode like this. I have no doubt that there are plenty of other pantries in the country with 10 year-old tinned goods in them, and what if a child handles one? These really are dangerous and the danger is made worse by the lack of consumer-readable date information on them. What the hell is Watties trying to hide?

 

  

 

If they had labels that showed the age, I doubt it would make any difference, as once people put them in the cupboard, they are usually forgotten about till it's time to eat them. Do you go through your cupboards annually to ensure you are rotating your stock and ensuring you eat items within the safe timeframe? I doubt it, which isn't really a problem as I don't think anyone else does as well.

I think expecting stuff like a tin of food to be safe after 10 years is probably unrealistic.

If Watties issued a public release saying people should ensure they do rotate their items to avoid exploding tins, no chance it would make 95% of households change their behaviour past maybe year 1.

I seriously doubt MPI will be doing anything significant given the age of these containers.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, it sounds horrible, but I am not really sure what realistically you expect Watties or MPI to do ?

Rikkitic:

OK, I got in touch with Watties and they gave me the usual 'we're not liable' runaround, which doesn't surprise me. There is no consumer date information of any kind on the labels, but from the super-secret mystery code number stamped on the bottom of one of the cans, they tell me the can is 10 years old!

Apart from that, I had a heated discussion with the 'customer relations' person about the lack of consumer information on the label.

  

A date on a can would be really helpful. We do go through and throw old cans out occasionally, or even just to check it before you open it.

I agree that it would be a sensible thing if companies were required to put a 'canned on...' date on cans, thereby allow consumers to better track the age of their food reserves. Given that cans, on a basis of their expected longevity, will dominate most people's emergency kits, this would be damn useful. I get that individuals can (ha ha) write the date of purchase on the tin but I don't think the onus should be on the consumer to do this.

My failure to manage this properly with our emergency kit, after finding the cans in it were looking dodgy (rusty) and me realising I had no idea of how old they were, led to a new approach of combining 'emergency' and standard kitchen supplies together, but stored in two places, hopefully meaning all cans turned over at an acceptable rate. I think I'll carry on with this approach, but start adding a purchased date on the tin.

NZ and Australia are covered by a joint food standards law.

For all canned products with a shelf life of under 2 years no date is required to be printed on the can. You'll find now many products in recent years now do have packed on dates on them - this was certainly not common place 10 years ago, but is now relatively common but not legally required. 

I'm not surprised about a 10yr old can exploding due to the acid and metal reacting, especially with ham in it and it's it's been somewhere that is warm. Yes you can argue it shouldn't happen, but science..