Anybody get Sick from EBay MREs?
Anybody get Sick from EBay MREs?
Have any of you ever gotten sick from eating MREs purchased off of EBay? I'm ready to try some authentic MREs but I'm a little concerned about getting food poisoning from them, seeing as I haven't a clue how they've been stored. I know the odds are probably pretty low, but with my luck I'd probably get sick fro the first entree I sink my teeth into!
With a big, hearty disclaimer of "your experience may vary", I'll say this...
I've never had a problem with any MREs I've bought off eBay. I've also not had any problems with any MREs that have obviously been stored in sub-optimal conditions. If you buy a case and it's still sealed up...or if you buy some individual MREs and they're still sealed in their meal bag...and when you open up the actual MRE, as long as the food is still sealed in the (non-swelling, non-punctured) pouches, I think you'll be ok.
There's always a chance that the MREs were stored so poorly that some of components could have degraded (cheese turning a less-than-cheesy color, for example) but as I understand it, the process of cooking and packaging the MRE components is supposed to kill all the bacteria that could develop to cause food poisoning.
However...I have heard from other people who have had the occasional bad MRE. In one case, a pouch had burst inside the meal bag and caused a mess. In another case, when they opened an entree, it smelled horrible - like the food had gone bad. In either of those cases, you're best off tossing out all the food to be safe.
So just use good judgement when trying the MREs. If the packages are torn or punctured or swelling, throw them away. If you open something and it smells bad (bacteria-bad or just "I don't like it"-bad) then throw it away. But if those first two tests pass, try a bite of the food. If it tastes bad, spit it out and throw it all away. Otherwise, if all looks good, chow down!
I've never had a problem with any MREs I've bought off eBay. I've also not had any problems with any MREs that have obviously been stored in sub-optimal conditions. If you buy a case and it's still sealed up...or if you buy some individual MREs and they're still sealed in their meal bag...and when you open up the actual MRE, as long as the food is still sealed in the (non-swelling, non-punctured) pouches, I think you'll be ok.
There's always a chance that the MREs were stored so poorly that some of components could have degraded (cheese turning a less-than-cheesy color, for example) but as I understand it, the process of cooking and packaging the MRE components is supposed to kill all the bacteria that could develop to cause food poisoning.
However...I have heard from other people who have had the occasional bad MRE. In one case, a pouch had burst inside the meal bag and caused a mess. In another case, when they opened an entree, it smelled horrible - like the food had gone bad. In either of those cases, you're best off tossing out all the food to be safe.
So just use good judgement when trying the MREs. If the packages are torn or punctured or swelling, throw them away. If you open something and it smells bad (bacteria-bad or just "I don't like it"-bad) then throw it away. But if those first two tests pass, try a bite of the food. If it tastes bad, spit it out and throw it all away. Otherwise, if all looks good, chow down!
I know how buying food from 'unusual places' can make you a little paranoid. But in most cases the MRE's you buy on eBay are just as safe as food bought from the regular places. If you just use good judgement, like Kman said, you'll be fine.
MRE's are made for the US armed forces which set very high standards as to not have any problem food-wise for the soldiers.
I also had some extra gas after eating certain parts of MRE's, mostly cheese spreads. I have to this date only eaten cheese spreads which were all about 3,5 years old and looked like the from 100 degrees:
..and i'm still alive and doing well.
But i do hope to find a cheese spread somewhere that looks like its supposed to
MRE's are made for the US armed forces which set very high standards as to not have any problem food-wise for the soldiers.
I also had some extra gas after eating certain parts of MRE's, mostly cheese spreads. I have to this date only eaten cheese spreads which were all about 3,5 years old and looked like the from 100 degrees:
..and i'm still alive and doing well.
But i do hope to find a cheese spread somewhere that looks like its supposed to
It's pretty sad that in the pics above, the one that really looks like cheese is the one that's been overexposed to heat.
I think it's just a matter of the color of the photos being a little off. That first one, for example, looks a little pink to me. But just imagine it's really the orange-ish color of fresh MRE cheese.
Heh heh...I just used the words "fresh" and"MRE cheese" in the same sentence. :-)
I think it's just a matter of the color of the photos being a little off. That first one, for example, looks a little pink to me. But just imagine it's really the orange-ish color of fresh MRE cheese.
Heh heh...I just used the words "fresh" and"MRE cheese" in the same sentence. :-)
LOL, that cracked me up.
I've seen the white cheese years ago in a box that were packed in 92 and well within the inspection date. At first I figured it had gone bad but everything else in the box was fine so I just assumed that it was supposed to be that way, I'm not a fan of cheese so I didn't taste it. I can say for sure however that it does (or did) exist.