The Kellogg's cereal company was very uninformative when I called their
toll-free helpline yesterday afternoon. I called to ask them if it was
safe
to eat a box of cereal, "Just Right," dated May 2004 - about 15 months
past
the expiration date. They told me product quality can begin to deteriorate
within four to six weeks after the expiration date and they when I ask
them
if it would be poisonous they said they would have no way of knowing.
I wanted to introduce a hypothetical but the lady was very curt and I
decided I would not be able to get any additional information from her.
I wanted to say, what if I am baby sitting a starving child here and I
can't
get out because of Hurricane Katrina - if I feed the child the expired
cereal and she gets sick and dies would I be guilty of manslaughter
charges
in view of the fact Kellogg's could not provide a helpful answer to my
question based on toxicological re****ts and experiential evidence. The
lady
did not attempt to explain the probabilities of potential sickness or
death
and only had me wondering what is more toxic, stale "Just Right" or Indian
cobra vemon. Commonsense suggests the Indian cobra vemon would be more
toxic
but you couldn't have gleaned that from a conversation with the person
manning the Kellogg's help line yesterday afternoon.
The truth of the matter is I really did not want to get out yesterday
because of the hurricane and I wanted to eat the cereal myself. I do not
care if it's stale, not up to Kellogg's standards, or the dates or raisins
are dried out. I was just hungry and I wanted to make sure the food was
not
poisonous before I ate it.
Later yesterday afternoon I even left a version of this message on their
web
site and provided my name and phone number. It is over 24 hours later so I
know someone at Kellogg's has had time to read it and respond, but they
haven't.
I said in my message that I would hope to hear from them quickly before I
made the decision to ask the knowledgeable people in the Internet
newsgroups
their opinions. Well, Kellogg's has not replied, so I assume they have
taken
the position there is someone more capable of answering my question in the
newsgroups, moreso than someone in their labs or quality control
departments.
Thanks for your opinion. I am only writing because many thrift shops sell
cereal products on the verge of expiration and I am wondering if the low
prices are really good buys or if the products become toxic a certain
number
of months or years after their expiration dates (so long as the packages
have not been opened or damaged in any way).
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