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BBQ Sauce past "Sell By" date?

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KevinR

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Hi All!

My in-laws picked up multiple cases of Sweet Baby Ray's for me... with a Sell By January 2013. 80oz. jugs for $1 each. Cheap enough for them to act first and ask later.

Can I use the sauce? If so, how long will the unopened bottles keep? Thanks in advance.

Kevin
 
I can't say for certain, but I can give you an example of my experience. As a retailer, when things are past the sell date, we remove them from the shelf. We never sell them to people for safety reasons. On the other hand, I have taken bbq sauces, salsas, hot sauces, etc. home and used them when they were past the date with no issues.

So, proceed with caution, and if it smells bad or seems to look odd, just chuck it!
 
It's safe to use. BBQ sauces are shelf-stable and are safe to eat unopened indefinitely. Sell by dates are for flavor/quality. Use by dates are for food safety.
 
Agreed sell by is for best flavor profile
 
Just noticed it actually states "best by Jan 19 2013."

Based on the replies we should be ok. Thanks again.
 
I saw an article on food safety a few months ago. The expert said that the way they decide the "sell by" and "use by" dates is by having a panel of people with a heightened sense of taste taste it from one month on up to a few years. Once the taste starts to diminish (often times, normal people without a heightened sense of taste and smell won't actually notice), that is the date they set for. The expert also said that they have never seen someone sick from eating past the sell by date (the only thing that causes sickness is germs, salmonella, etc).

Essentially, the dates have to do with taste and have nothing to do with safety. In the article, a can of 100 year old peaches and oysters were tested and proved to be fine and still contained nutrients.

It was pretty entertaining. Listen to it:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/12/26/167819082/dont-fear-that-expired-food
 
Trumpstylz said:
Essentially, the dates have to do with taste and have nothing to do with safety. In the article, a can of 100 year old peaches and oysters were tested and proved to be fine and still contained nutrients.
Click to expand...

Why would anyone want oysters that have soaked for 100 years in peach juice?! :shock:
 
Gadragonfly said:
Why would anyone want oysters that have soaked for 100 years in peach juice?! :shock:
Click to expand...

It may give you an explosion like none other. They've had time to build up some good go-go juice. The wimminz luvz dem sum of dat!!!! :shock:
 
Back in 2009 I picked up dozens and dozens of SBR's in different flavors on sale at 50 cents each. They all had exp dates of 2010. Three years after the exp date I'm still using them and they all seem fine.
 
Gadragonfly said:
Why would anyone want oysters that have soaked for 100 years in peach juice?! :shock:
Click to expand...

Yeah, the cans were seperate, they were just both found on the same sunken ship and then analyzed. They also had a can of 40 year old corn, and said it was fine.
 
I'm good with all that, but riddle me this, caped crusader - today I went to Sam's and purchased a case of Tyson "All Natural" pork butts (67 pounds @ $1.19 per pound). When I got home, I opened the box and found all eight butts had a sticker on the cryo that said "Best used or frozen by 3/07/13". Keep in mind that I purchased them on 3/15/13. I opened two twin packs and rewrapped them separately in double plastic followed by double foil and put in freezer. The other four I am planning on cooking on 3/20/13 and serving to a church group. They smelled fine and looked fine. Should I be worried? Should I freeze all of them and thaw out on Tuesday before cooking on Wednesday? I was planning on keeping the four for Wednesday in the fridge until Tuesday afternoon.
 
Last edited:
Texas Turtle said:
I'm good with all that, but riddle me this, caped crusader - today I went to Sam's and purchased a case of Tyson "All Natural" pork butts (67 pounds @ $1.19 per pound). When I got home, I opened the box and found all eight butts had a sticker on the cryo that said "Best used or frozen by 3/07/13". Keep in mind that I purchased them on 3/15/13. I opened two twin packs and rewrapped them separately in double plastic followed by double foil and put in freezer. The other four I am planning on cooking on 3/20/13 and serving to a church group. They smelled fine and looked fine. Should I be worried? Should I freeze all of them and thaw out on Tuesday before cooking on Wednesday? I was planning on keeping the four for Wednesday in the fridge until Tuesday afternoon.
Click to expand...

I generally utilize the smell test in that case.
 
As a prepper I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject and can confirm what everyone has been saying here. First, trust your senses (if you have any! :) :wink: look, smell & taste.... The only thing that's left is to get over the initial hesitation once you're about ready to use the "expired" product.

But after inspecting and you suspect something is wrong, go get another bottle. Better safe than sorry.

David
 
SmokinSlowPoke said:
Texas, meat is a completely different story. I would be headed back to Sam's for a refund or an exchange.
Click to expand...

I agree. Sam's advertises a 200% satisfaction for their meats so you should get a double refund. You'll have enough to rebuy the pork for the church and return their money. (I'd open the case before I left the premises, but I'm sure that goes without saying.)

I buy meat regularly at Sam's and watch for meat that gets marked down several days before the eat/freeze by date. Of course now I wonder if that was already factored into your price. I'm not familiar with their case pricing. However if that's the situation, they should have made it clear that you were buying old meat.

That long past the sell by date? I wouldn't touch it if cooking for others. :twitch:


Back to the OP's question... I recall reading somewhere that for some things that are good more or less indefinitely, the manufacturers go with a one year sell by date just because. That seems likely in the case of BBQ sauce.
 
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