I have never been able to understand why people think expiration dates apply to almost anything. The dates are only there because govt dweebs "thought it would be a good idea". Do people really think that when June 30, 2006 comes, the stuff is rotting in the container by July 1???

The expiration dates really don't mean a thing, for most products. Tests were done on a large range of medications (you know, the ones that expire in 365 days), and they found that for most meds, they were perfectly good ten YEARS down the road if they weren't subjected to temperature extremes.

I've drunk water from those little foil packs I bought in a military surplus store about 15 yrs earlier, and they tasted just fine. And those laminated foil packs are exactly the same as what you find meat, fruit, nuts and lots of other stuff packaged in at the grocery store. If the stuff was okay when it went in, I'll bet it's perfectly fine five years later.

Think for a minute: if you have a mylar bag of figs sitting in your cupboard, and by the time you get around to being in the mood for figs you notice that the expiration date has come and gone, so you toss it without opening it, what happens?

You go to the store and buy a fresh one! TaDa! And the store makes money off your unwarranted fears.

Sue