HOW LONG CAN YOU KEEP FOODS AND EXPIRED MEDICINES?

So what's happening today?  

• Benjamin Netanyahu could well have been ousted by the time you read this.  Next, a court date for corruption.  Sounds like another Donald Trump.
• Joe Biden is still in Europe, and will meet with Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday.  They will not hold a joint press conference to deny Putin an international stage.
• Otherwise, the big event of the day is the Westminster Dog Show.  It is currently showing on FS1.  The winner last year was Siba, a Standard Poodle.
• 
  Magawa, whose official job title is HeroRAT, is retiring this month after a five-year career detecting land mines in Cambodia.  Trained in Belgium, this African giant pouched rat detected 71 land mines and 38 other items of unexploded ordnance to clear 2.4 million square feet of land.  Other rats do things like detect tuberculosis.  Apparently many in Florida got them as pets, but some escaped, and this is now considered to be an invasive species, said to be responsible for an outbreak of monkeypox in 2003.

I don't feel particularly spiritual today, so will toss in all kinds of things above and below, but loosely focus on how long you can keep foods in your refrigerator and meds in your cabinet.  Here is the standard recommendation about foods:

CATEGORY               FOOD                             REFRIGERATOR     FREEZER

Hot dogs                     opened package              3-5 days                     1-2 months

                                    unopened                        2 weeks                      1-2 months

Bacon                           bacon                              7 days                        1 month

Hamburger                  raw hamburger               1-2 days                     3-4 months

Raw meat                     steak                                2-5 days                    6-12 months

               

Chicken                        raw chicken                     3-5 days                     1 year

Soups                           soups                                3-4 days                     2-6 months

Pizza                            pizza                                 3-4 days                     1-2 months

Click on the above to read it.  About eggs, depends on many factors.  For example, in the U.S., much of Europe and Japan, less than two hours at room temperature.  However, some countries say 1-3 weeks without refrigeration.  This is because those countries in processing don't wash their eggs, which then keeps a protective coating.  The problem is salmonella.

                                          Room Temperature      Refrigerator             Freezer

In-shell fresh eggs            see above                      4-5 weeks                 not recommended

     Yolks/Whites              less than 2 hours            2-4 days                   one year

     Hard-boiled                 less than 2 hours            1 week                     not recommended

Pies                                   less than 2 hours            3-4 days                   1-2 months

What about ?  

• Soft cheeses up to one week, but do not freeze well.  Hard cheeses can be stored for six months in a refrigerator, but only 3-4 weeks if opened.

• 
  Milk can be confusing.  
• At room temperature, two hours.
• Some sources say 4-7 days past its deadline if refrigerated.  
• But this depends on the phrase:  "best if used by", "expires on" and "sell by".  Use your common sense, for these terms apply to peak taste.
• Evaporated/condensed milk of course can be stored in a can for one year at ambient temperatures.
• Then again, new processes have been developed so that someday you will have access to:
• Ultra-high temperature milk, which be stored unopened for six months at room temperature.  The taste is okay, if not good.

Most standard chips only have a shelf life of two to three weeks.  Lately though, I've noticed that some potato chips kept in the bag have deadlines that are six months into the future.  Apparently the solution was to replace the oxygen in the bag with nitrogen.  Amazingly enough, it tastes fine, although I've never been brave enough to test the full limits.

About medication, the expiration date is an FDA requirement beginning in 1979.  The date is set to insure that the drug remains effective.  But do pills get bad and dangerous when older?  

• In general, be careful with insulin (diabetes), oral nitroglycerin (chest pain), vaccines, tetracycline and anything injectable.
• Most pills are not that expensive, and with your medical plan, why take a chance.
• However, pharmaceutical companies love deadlines, for most medications are effective for many years pass the expiration date.  The FDA serves as a legal marketing device for them.
• The standard example is a study the U.S. military conducted in 2000 when they found that 90% of the more than 100 drugs they tested were safe and effective as long as 15 years past the expiration date.  At that time it was sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of medications.
• A 2006 re-study of 122 drugs confirmed the above.
• Hospitals and care centers must legally dispose nearly a billion dollars of meds annually. 
• But the military apparently does not need to follow FDA requirements, and the $13.6 billion drug stockpile saves a couple of billion dollars/year by being smart.
• So why doesn't the FDA adjust their requirements?  Why isn't the AMA more responsible?  Is anything happening with the Biden Administration?  Don't hold  your breath.

Photos showing D-Day on 6 June...and in 2014.  Just click on each photo to take you back and forth.  FASCINATING!!!    Sometimes that link takes forever to download, so you can try the following:

https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/2014/apr/image-opacity-slider-master/index.html?ww2-dday

KHON2 Lauren Day's dad grows giant papayas.  Brought back old memories, for nearly 60 years ago the trainee cottage C. Brewer first placed me in Naalehu had a large adjacent papaya tree which produced fruits even bigger.  It had no papaya-taste.  The flesh was perfect with no smell and a lot of sweetness.  I inquired why the company did not grow and market it, and the answer was that most people only want individual sizes.  

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