Read this! Good information about food spoilage (with tongue in cheek)

DH shared this with me this afternoon.  It came from Chef Paul Kirk and was published in the "Bullsheet" paper for the Kansas City Barbecue Association.  It's well worth the read!

FOOD SPOILAGE TEST AND EXPIRATION DATES

This is NOT a marketing ploy to encourage you to throw away perfectly good food so that you'll spend more on groceries.  Perhaps you'd benefit by having a calendar in your kitchen.

MEAT:

If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three block radius to congregate outside your house, the meat is spoiled.

BREAD:
Sesame seeds and Poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable "spots" that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread.  Fuzzy and hairy looking white or green growth areas are a good indication that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment.

FLOUR:
Flour is spoiled when it wiggles.

SALT:
It never spoils.

LETTUCE:
Bibb lettuce is spoiled when you can't get it off the bottom of the vegetable crisper without Comet.  Romaine lettuce is spoiled when it turns liquid.

CANNED GOODS:
Any canned good that have become the size or shape of a soft ball should be disposed of. Carefully.

CARROTS:
A carrot that you can tie a clove hitch in is not fresh.

RAISINS:
Raisins should not be harder than your teeth.

POTATOES:

Fresh potatoes do not have roots, branches, or dense, leafy under growth.

CHIP DIP:

If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.

EMPTY CONTAINERS:

Putting empty containers back into the refrigerator is an old trick, but it only works if you live with someone or have a maid.

UNMARKED ITEMS:

You know it is well beyond prime when you're tempted to discard the Tupperware along with the food.  Generally speaking, Tupperware containers should not burp when you  open them.