Like how can a canned tuna stay edible after almost a year? or other products such as chips or chocolates, etc.
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I guess years of testing and experience? If you’re a 70 year old canned tuna company you’ve got a good idea how long the food lasts so slap an eat-by date and call it a job well done
Two different questions here.
Expiration dates on food products are actually not expiration dates – they are “sell by” dates. They are the manufacturer’s best guess as to when the food will lose “optimal freshness.” It is just a guess and should not be taken as gospel.
Canned tuna can stay fresh for years because it is sealed in an air-tight can and then heated to a temperature where all the bacteria inside the tuna die. No bacteria means no food spoilage.
Keep in mind that, with the exception of baby food, there is no federal standard in the US for measuring when food is no longer safe to eat. So the “expiration date” you see is just a manufacturer’s best guess at how long their food is still fresh. Even if it’s past that date, it’s usually still safe to eat. Hell, canned food can stay safe to eat for years.
In many cases it’s clearly nonsense, either legal fears or some kind of planned obsolescence.
Cured by storing ten years in a cave, and it goes bad in a week and only lasts that long if refrigerated.
Salt, salt thousands of years old comes with an expiration date.
Some OK answers here- yes, unless it’s baby formula an actual expiration date isn’t required by law, and yes, some are well by dates, not expiration dates. But, manufacturers can have a ‘shelf life study’ or an aging study done. Basically, they have the product put into an accelerated aging chamber, and remove it at specific intervals to test for bacteria and things of that nature. The accelerated aging chamber is sort of like a controlled oven, and increases degradation and bacterial growth along a known curve. The study then gives enough information to estimate expiration times.
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