Pancakes made from old mix...

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-04-2003
Pancakes made from old mix...
17
Fri, 04-14-2006 - 1:03pm
Read this on Dear Abby today, Friday April 14th:


PANCAKES MADE FROM OLD MIX CAUSE ACUTE ALLERGIC REACTION


DEAR ABBY: I recently made a batch of pancakes for my healthy 14-year-old son, using a mix that was in our pantry. He said that they tasted "funny," but ate them anyway. About 10 minutes later, he began having difficulty breathing and his lips began turning purple. I gave him his allergy pill, had him sit on the sofa and told him to relax. He was wheezing while inhaling and exhaling.


My husband, a volunteer firefighter and EMT, heated up some water, and we had my son lean over the water so the steam could clear his chest and sinuses. Soon, his breathing became more regular and his lips returned to a more normal color.


We checked the date on the box of pancake mix and, to my dismay, found it was very outdated. As a reference librarian at an academic institution, I have the ability to search through many research databases. I did just that, and found an article the next day that mentioned a 19-year-old male DYING after eating pancakes made with outdated mix. Apparently, the mold that forms in old pancake mix can be toxic!


When we told our friends about my son's close call, we were surprised at the number of people who mentioned that they should check their own pancake mix since they don't use it often, or they had purchased it some time ago. With so many people shopping at warehouse-type stores and buying large sizes of pancake mix, I hope your readers will take the time to check the expiration date on their boxes. -- SUE IN WYANTSKILL, N.Y.


DEAR SUE: Thank you for the warning. I certainly was not aware that pancake mix could turn moldy and cause an allergic reaction in someone with an allergy to mold -- but it's logical. I wonder if the same holds true for cake mix, brownie mix and cookie mix. If so, then a warning should be placed on the box for people like me.


We hear so often about discarding prescription and over-the-counter medications after their expiration dates, but I don't recall warnings about packaged items in the pantry. Heads up, folks!



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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2000
Fri, 04-14-2006 - 1:27pm

Make sense to me to keep the pantry fresh, the mix has got to have some type of fat in the ingredients and fat will go rancid.

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a306/yttap/siggys/
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 04-14-2006 - 8:31pm

I agree, weevils are not the only issue.

hunk 'o, hunk 'o burnin' heartburn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2005
Sat, 04-15-2006 - 1:23pm

This being Spring Cleaning time,
it's a good idea to check the dates on
all perishables on the shelf!
DH was laughing at me because I'm starting to
look like my old folk's pantry!
We hated to eat at my folk's house because
we could find year-old stuff in the fridge
and other things on the shelves.
Now I've fallen into the same rut!
Lately I've been looking at the dates
on the food wrappers, and noticed things
like the peanut butter was a year old,
the vitamins will be outdated in May/06
Even the Triscuits will be stale in May!!
What's with that??
Anybody else getting caught "Short"?

Hoppy Easter!!

Hugs

Avatar for cl_glebou
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Sat, 04-15-2006 - 4:24pm

I just threw out the low-fat Bisquick I've had since ^DH^ was alive.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2003
Sat, 04-15-2006 - 5:16pm

Thank you for letting us all know about this.
I do use pancake mix but since we eat pancakes for dinner once a week it doesn't last very
long :)
Gotta love pancakes with butter and real maple syrup! this our special treat of the week.
I used to be afraid to throw stuff out but I go through my pantry once a month now to check for old items and to make a menu plan/shopping list move stuff to the front etc...

Nathalie

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2005
Sat, 04-15-2006 - 8:04pm

Good plan, I've got to get in and do that again,soon!

Happy Easter!

Ha

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-04-2003
Sun, 04-16-2006 - 6:48pm
I'm bad about this myself! *blush* I don't have pancake mix.. I don't think they sell it in Finland..and besides, it is easy to make pancakes, plus I love my recipe!


What I do have is old cake batter mixes... *ducks and hides* And I used one of them recently, not even thinking about any of the ingredients going bad.. Everything turned out fine and they tasted yummy!

But what I am wondering now is.. are they really bad? Do I have to throw them away?!


*sighs* We don't have that sort of cakes here in Finland..They are my emergency stash..

. o O (You would think that I would have had an emergency and needed them in the last 6 years before now, huh?!)



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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2005
Sun, 04-16-2006 - 7:35pm

Time flies before you know it's gone!
I'm finding I'm in the same boat!
Looking now at everything I put on the table,
because all of the boxes and jars are dated now.
Was this ever a problem in the past, or are folks
more sensitive to the preservatives and fillers?
I don't know.
It seems like a good idea to get in on a 2/4/1 deal,
but if it's still on your shelf a year later, maybe it
wasn't such a good deal.
What about canned goods?
Do we have to check the dates on them?
I just needed some baking powder for the first time
in years, I guess, because I found TWO brand new cans
not opened, and BOTH were past the expiration date on the
package!!
Do I throw them out and get a new one, or start dating them
from when I break the manufacturer's seal?
My peanut butter was over a year old, the crackers expire
next month.Geesh!
It's getting too complicated managing all these dates!!

KWIM!!

Ha

Hugs

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2003
Sun, 04-16-2006 - 10:08pm

I remember clearing out my ex-husband's grandmothers basement and fruit cellar when she went into a nursing home.
She would never let us check out what was in the basement so once we had to do it, it was a nasty job!
She had not been able to get up and down the stairs in many years and some of the tin cans in the fruit cellar had exploded along with home canned items in jars...this was a horrible mess to clean up.
I don't think she even threw anything out.....there was stuff kicking around in her cupboards that I was afraid to look into!LOL!
Made me take a good long, hard look at my own stuff and toss out all the old junk.
I didn't like throwing it away but I had to do it.
I hear you on the baking powder...I just get a small amount at the bulk store every month or so depending on how much baking I'm doing.

Nathalie

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-30-2005
Sun, 04-16-2006 - 11:25pm

I hear you on the old folks not getting rid of stuff.
When we went to AZ. to help my Dad move, a lot of the stuff
we just put in a nearby dumpster, rather than move it into his
new and smaller place.We figured he had so much stuff anyways,
he wouldn't miss some of it!He didn't!

Ha

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