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Hi everyone,

I recently decided to open a B-2 unit of mine from 1965 because there was no indication of what was inside. It simply said "B-2 UNIT" Gave into temptation and opened it with my trusty P-38 can opener. The can was a bit bulged. Figured that some chocolate disk inside went bad. As I pierced the B-2 Unit with the P-38, the hiss was a good one! I should have kept it sealed. The smell was dreadfully foul. Upon lifting the top off there were crackers inside, soggy crackers. They had swelled up and wouldn't come out when i shook the can.

Once I managed to get the crackers out, I looked inside and there it was, staring me in the face.... 52 year old Cheddar Cheese Spread. This is my first encounter with cheese spread from an MCI. I thought the cheese spread from my 1993 MRE was bad. That smells like flowers compared to this stuff. Even though it's disgusting, I had to keep the can. Doubled up on some rubber gloves, scraped out as much cheese as I could, threw the can in a pot of boiling water, and scrubbed it with rubbing alcohol. Now I can display it! Take care everyone!

- JT1991

Thanks for sharing that dreadful experience with us.
Its always interesting to see how those cans hold up and also think about what the failure was.
My guess would be that the can was damp when assembling, that must have attacked the fat in the crackers.

These B-2 horror stories are really keeping me from ever opening mine.

Nighthawk1097 wrote:These B-2 horror stories are really keeping me from ever opening mine.

But, as the contents continue to decompose, the acid content continues to rise which means, corrosion of the interior of the can ramps up as well.