So, Mum asked me to check the dates on some cans of grub in her basement. No dates on some, some dates expired. As I "didtrust" a lot of dates on various products, I have been searching the internut for info on the (no) dates and have found a number of interesting takes, but this, from a post to a discussion site, takes the can...

"Totally boring historical note (but interesting to me). When the Franklin expedition to find the northwest passage disappeared in 1851, no one seemed willing to go look for them. Finally, a doctor in Upper Canada make the trek--he walked there. He finally found evidence, and it eventually turned out that the survivors of the expedition, with Cerebrus and Terror locked in the ice, had put supplied in long boats, and dragged them across the ice and the tundra. Two problems: instead of heading for York Factory on Hudson's Bay, the nearest outpost, they were headed for Montreal ! ? ! ? ! Additionally, they filled the long boats with china, glassware, window panes (!--absolutely true), window sashes, napkins, changes of dress uniforms--but not food and weapons for hunting. It has since been opined that they were suffering from chronic lead poisoning from the lead solder used to seal the canned goods they ate. In the early 1980's, some Canadian anthropologists dug up the grave of a young marine who was one of the first to die. He showed the signs of advance, chronic, low-grade lead poisoning. Even more interesting, Custer's Seventh Cavalry was eating canned goods at the time of its destruction, as well. The cans they used were also sealed with lead. Digs on the "Little Bighorn" battlefield have revealed remains of troopers with signs of chronic, low-grade lead poisoning. The main sign of chronic lead poisoning is dementia. Consider Custer's last message to Benteen: "Have the Indian village in sight, have the hostiles on the run, come on with the trains." Any man with 250 or so troopers surrounded by several thousands hostiles who thinks he "has them on the run" is more than a little demented."

Coool eh?