Saturday, Sep 26

Welcome to Your Daily Dot where Dot will share tips, advice, and stories on how we can make our world better.

All Dear Dot illustrations by Elissa Turnbull.

Dear Dot,

When I was growing up, I was told that, as long as a food can isn’t bulging, it’s safe to eat. Is that true?

—Chris

Dear Chris,

It’s amazing to Dot that, among so many noteworthy stories on the Bluedot site, our story about expiration dates and food safety remains among the most widely read. 

But, while I hope readers will also take in the stories of folks around the world who are doing interesting things in their communities to address climate change, the truth is that we all eat, and we all hate wasting money, but none of us wants a raging case of diarrhea, botulism, or any of the myriad other illnesses caused by eating spoiled food. So I get why that story has had such traction. What’s more, increasingly, we know just how much food waste contributes to climate change. When it rots, food releases greenhouse gasses, most notably methane, which is far more potent than CO2. Food waste is blamed by Project Drawdown, which ranks both climate issues and solutions, as responsible for roughly eight percent of global emissions. 

What our story made clear was how arbitrary and largely misleading those dates stamped on food really are, and how little they actually have to do with food safety. But what it didn’t answer, Chris, was how to know when food is legitimately unsafe to eat.

So let’s open this particular can of worms — or peaches, or beans, or soup, as the case may be — shall we? 

Keep reading for Dot’s advice!

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