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How long does a can of coca-cola last? Like a case of them, sitting in a room-temperature room. There is a date on the bottom (MAR1411), but what does that mean?

I have a can with the World Cup on it, and I just became really curious.

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It lasts indefinitely. The date you are seeing should be viewed as a "best before" date. Over time the soda can become flat and the flavor will degrade, but it will still be drinkable as long as the can was not compromised.

Based on looking at some Coke I recently purchased, it appears that the date is likely 1 year in the future from when it was canned. The cans in my fridge have a date of JUN1711; I bought these in late July.

Plastic bottles. on the other hand, have a much shorter "best before" window. This is because the plastic bottle leaks the carbonation much quicker than an aluminum can does. I don't have any bottles on hand, but if I recall correctly they typically have a date only 3 months out.

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    Once after a food booth at a craft show, my family had several cases of 7-Up (in cans) left over, and we decided we'd save them in the basement. Some time later (as I recall, about a year after the expiration date), we remembered them, and tried to drink it. It tasted horrible, and we ended up throwing it all away.
    – Flimzy
    Oct 15, 2011 at 18:49
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    My personal experience confirms Flimzy's comment.
    – Les
    Sep 24, 2012 at 16:46
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    Also, plastic bottles leak chemicals (usually phthalates, which act as endocrine disruptors and may be linked to cancer) into the pop over time, and the rate of release accelerates over time as the plastic breaks down, which is another reason to want to drink pop in plastic bottles quickly or not at all.
    – Theodore Murdock
    Sep 25, 2012 at 14:41
  • @hobodave, wait, what? It lasts indefinitely,......*except*: the soda becomes flat and flavor degrades?? Eh, what ?
    – Lorel C.
    Jan 7, 2017 at 6:25
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Diet drinks such as Diet Coke have a much shorter shelf life since the artificial sweetener degrades rapidly. I believe the expiration date is on the order of three months for cans. Not too much longer after that they taste pretty bad.

The corn-syrup based soft drinks I usually see are undated or carry a coded date depending on the brand.

How and whether soft drinks are dated varies by brand and possibly by bottler within a brand.

If you're keeping the can as a collectible, be aware that the can will probably eventually develop a pinhole and the contents will be lost. Bottle collectors never empty the bottles since that adversely affects the value.

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    Diet cola stores very poorly. The sweetener can react with the acids to form formaldehyde (among other things) if the temp is above something like 100F. I avoid all diet soda, just to be safe (and it tastes bad).
    – Adam Shiemke
    Aug 25, 2010 at 15:28
  • I have bought cans of diet soda from a vending machine a couple of times that tasted like they had very little or no sweetener in them but otherwise were OK. It never occurred to me to check the expiration date. I thought that maybe they were just part of a bad batch of sodas from the bottling plant.
    – Mintas Lanxor
    Dec 15, 2016 at 0:53
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Bought a Dr Pepper (in a can) from the vending machine in the back. The date was Aug11/08 Still tastes great and it's Oct22, 2012 :D

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    I was visiting a facility in Arizona a couple of years back, and hit up their vending machine for a Mountain Dew ... it was noticably off, and then I noticed the date on it was a couple of years in the past. I want to say it was past the date by 2 to 5 years, but can't remember exactly ... it might be that the temperature extremes affected it more (it was in a basement, but I assume it wasn't a refigerated delivery truck).
    – Joe
    Oct 22, 2012 at 15:58
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I have seen my Grandfather drink old bottles of Pepsi & Coke that were over 25 years old. He buys & sell second hand items (mostly antiques). He's told me numerous times that the old pop tastes better.

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btw: Heat changes nutrisweet - so there is a change in flavor that is unpleasant. I see stores putting the boxes of diet coke outside in the sun - When I see this I wonder how often the soda is stored in a very hot warehouse or truck! For years I have bought 12 packs of canned diet coke when they are on sale at holidays. All of a sudden - I quit drinking them after being addicted to them for years. I have 3 12 packs that are approaching one year old - I guess I will have to open one to see if it is worth giving to a relative.

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