Stale, dated pancake and other baking mixes pose no danger to you unless: You are allergic to mold, or the baking mix was not contained in an unbleached wax paper, plastic or a foil pouch within its outer packaging.
An old cautionary tale about expired pancake mix turns out to have been overblown.
Dear Abby owes me money.
I spent most mornings of my youth and early adulthood scanning the back page of the Chicago Tribune culture section, soaking in the drama du jour playing out in Abigail Van Buren’s long-running advice column. In 2006, one letter from a concerned parent instilled a fear of breakfast in me forever. It reads, in part:
Luckily, the letter writer’s teenage son was not seriously harmed, but she goes on to warn Dear Abby readers about the toxicity of the mold spores that can form in expired pancake mix. Because powdery Bisquick seems so harmless past its expiration date, it’s a pantry item that many people might use months or years too late without thinking about it. Advertisement
After reading this Dear Abby column, I never took that chance again. Though I remained comfortable with eating mealy apples and bricks of cream cheese past their use-by date, I threw out anything that could have dry mold spores lurking unseen in the box. Pancake mix was one thing I didn’t want to leave to chance, even if I was wasting $4 by chucking it. Advertisement
Only in 2022 do I realize that all that diligence was probably unnecessary. And I feel like Dear Abby led me to waste a sizable chunk of my grocery budget. Advertisement
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