What happens if you ingested expired baking soda?!


Question:

What happens if you ingested expired baking soda?

I'm making banana bread, and I noticed that baking soda needed to be changed every three months...


Answers:
As others have said absolutely nothing will go wrong. You won't get ill. When left opened in your fridge it will absorb moisture and odors, but that's all. Nor will it lose it's potency over time. Baking soda requires the addition of something acidic to get it into action. The acid mixed with the baking soda create carbon dioxide gas, and that's what causes the the little bubbles to form in cakes, pancakes, quickbreads, etc. Without the addition of an acid (buttermilk, acidic fruits or juices, yogurt, vinegar) nothing will happen. You could dump a box of baking soda in distilled water, let the water evaporate and you will have baking soda. So don't worry about dates on the box, they don't matter at all.

Baking powder is different, because while one component of baking powder is baking soda, another is a dry acid that will react with soda when it gets moist. Household humidity gets absorbed after time and so some of the baking soda and acid react thus causing the baking powder to lose effectiveness over time.

Source(s):
Chef

Nothing bad,but your banana bread might come out flat.

nothing will happen but your bread may have a slightly different texture

Baking Soda does not "go bad" it just looses it's effectiveness. You will NOT get ill from it.

you'll vomit, that's all.

nothing will happen to you, but your banana bread won't rise as well as it would if it were fresh baking soda.

Probably nothing serious. Except for highly perishable items such as milk, the expirations dates are generally guidlines for "use by" those dates.

This does NOT mean that the "baking soda" has gone bad. If you look at many products they will say "Best if used by" and then give a date.

For most if not all products, the expiration dates are set by the industry. These dates are set to protect the company not the user. This way companies are not sued by people who use bad or expired products. As you can imagine the dates are generally set well in advance of most true expiration.

In my opinion, you shouldnt worry too much. If you are concerned, toss it and buy a new one.

That is for use in your refrigerator.
Bicarbonate of soda is a crystalized and stable compound
it don't really break down in our life time.

no it wont hurt you. it just doesnt leaven the bread as nicely. BJT if it has been in your fridge that long, its going to have nasty flavors. i recoommened keeping a serperate box in your cupboard




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