Re: Question about pickles

Mothertrucker · ‎01-30-2015

Agree, if it is a "pop" lid, you can usually "feel" it by pushing on the center..

I really wouldnt worry- I'm old enough to remember when pickles were NEVER refrigerated, but sold at room temprature from big barrels at the market..The whole reason for "pickling" IS to preserve them in that way..it would be extrememly difficult for bacteria to grow in the acidic and salty environment of a pickle jar..Yes it IS possible, but very unlikely.

Please let us know what you find out.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@CelticCrafter wrote:
Is the lid completely flat?

If it's a "pop" lid usually there are little circles on the lid.

Great question! I'll check that out! @CelticCrafter

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Mothertrucker wrote:
Agree, if it is a "pop" lid, you can usually "feel" it by pushing on the center..

I really wouldnt worry- I'm old enough to remember when pickles were NEVER refrigerated, but sold at room temprature from big barrels at the market..The whole reason for "pickling" IS to preserve them in that way..it would be extrememly difficult for bacteria to grow in the acidic and salty environment of a pickle jar..Yes it IS possible, but very unlikely.

Please let us know what you find out.

I agree about the whole 'pickling' thing and old days when things that were so 'vinegary' weren't refrigerated.

One thing that bothers me is that since these may not be vacuum sealed, why wasn't there a band of some kind around the lid, kind of a tamper proof type thing. If these jars are just shipped unvacuumed, with no band or seal around the lid, they could easily be tampered with in shipping/retail. I would think in this day and age, things wouldn't ship like this anymore.

I know many breads still ship with nothing more than a twist tie and a lot of ice cream brands still have no 'protective' type seal. I always wonder if/when someone is going to contaminate products that are still packaged so 'basic'. Still remembering the Tylenol tampering that completely changed the way medicines were packaged.

It's funny how all this 'protective seal' type stuff has become our new normal over the years.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

UPDATE

I called Nathan's and they don't even make the pickles. They are made here in Ohio it seems by another company and I had to contact that company.

They said that there is no vacuum as we assumed, because of the 'fresh' and refrigerated nature. All good there, that there was no 'pop'.

BUT...it was supposed to have a band around the lid. I've decided if it was supposed to have this 'safety' feature I'm not going to use them. Anyone could have removed it and messed with the contents, or it could have been an accident in the processing plant that it/some jars missed getting banded.

Either way, I now know that 'fresh' pickles in the fridge section won't 'pop' and I also won't pick up another jar without the safety seal on the lid!

faeriemoon · ‎03-14-2010

I buy Claussen pickels in the refrigerated section. They don't pop, but they do have the plastic seal around the edge of the lid.

If yours are supposed to have the plastic seal and they don't, I wouldn't eat them either. Good call.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

@faeriemoon wrote:
I buy Claussen pickels in the refrigerated section. They don't pop, but they do have the plastic seal around the edge of the lid.

If yours are supposed to have the plastic seal and they don't, I wouldn't eat them either. Good call.

There are a few brands of ice cream that don't have that clear plastic strip around the lid and container and I won't buy them.

The last time I did, it was years ago, I took the container out, pulled the lid off and saw that someone had taken a scoop. Well, I didn't know it was my husband that did it and threw it out, it just wasn't his normal serving size. A few days later he asked me if I had eaten it all and explained what happened.

Oops, sorry!

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

mominohio wrote:
UPDATE

I called Nathan's and they don't even make the pickles. They are made here in Ohio it seems by another company and I had to contact that company.

They said that there is no vacuum as we assumed, because of the 'fresh' and refrigerated nature. All good there, that there was no 'pop'.

BUT...it was supposed to have a band around the lid. I've decided if it was supposed to have this 'safety' feature I'm not going to use them. Anyone could have removed it and messed with the contents, or it could have been an accident in the processing plant that it/some jars missed getting banded.

Either way, I now know that 'fresh' pickles in the fridge section won't 'pop' and I also won't pick up another jar without the safety seal on the lid!

Thanks for the info! I was reading the thread and looking forward to what they said about it.

I wasn't understanding the 'band' thing until now, as I realized it's that tightly fitting plastic that holds a lid on until the plastic is cut off. Yikes! IF that was supposed to be there and wasn't, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable with it at all.

It seems that you have to seem, to some, really paranoid about products. I also always look for that sort of thing and I always read expiration dates on pretty much everything now. Some stores will have old, or kind of older, products on the shelves routinely, it seems. It takes me a while to use some things so I always try to get the newest I can get.

CLEM · ‎03-09-2010

OP it is good that you were careful and vigilant about this. It's possible that the pickles were good, but who really knows.

Does anybody remember the Tylenol poisonings a few decades ago? Someone took some capsules and emptied them of the medicine and substituded some poison and then put them back on the shelves in the drug store. I don't remember how many people died and it was quite a while before they found out what had happened. After that safety seals were put on the containers.