My boyfriend's stepfather has a can of apricot juice in his pantry that is about to explode at the seams. I keep insisting that it belongs in the trash and probably infested with botulism, but he won't listen.

Once in a restaurant, my friend sitting next to me had ketchup explode in his face as he was opening it. The ketchup had obviously fermented and smelled strongly of alcohol. I often see waiters combining half-full ketchup bottles, so they always have a full one to give to customers. My guess is this bottle had been re-used for far too long.

Well, I'd like to re-claim the term.

screw it. I'll just shower and watch TV

Kinda looks like "Great Stuff" expanding foam. New marketing campaign for Stop and Shop focused at the construction worker "Our Light Mayonayse used to help fill your stomach, and that large gaping hole between the wall and that window you just installed". Now if they could only find a way to package it in a spray can like Redi-whip.

EWWWWWWW

Maybe it's just me and my weird way of naming things, but I'd rather call it aioli than "mayo". Would you really want your hard-earned homemade concoction to be associated with something disgusting as mayonnaise?

I resent your use of quotes when you talk about homemade mayo. I guess technically it is a type of aioli since it uses the egg white (although it would need garlic to really be aioli).

Or could you be implying that it isn't really mayonnaise since it isn't that processed garbage?

Or maybe dip bread in?

@warf0x0r: exactly!! mayo is NASTY.

And that mayo looks nasty. D: It's like...a cloud of disgustingness. However, I learned how to make homemade "mayo" from this page. Rock on.

Gosh that's almost enough to make me stop eating Mayo. Almost. I'll forget about it by tomorrow though.

That's disgusting. Imagine the mess!

lets not leave mayo packets exempt from this either. they will explode through the wrapper.

It's "Light" Mayonaise. This one's really, really light...

I learned the hard way that mayo does not take well to freezers, when our fridge broke and we were frantically tossing all the food into the larger freezer in our house to preserve it a jar of mayo got tossed into the freezer, it didn't look too pretty when it came out, so we tossed it. It wasn't a full jar so I cannot comment on the explosion factor but my guess is that this jar was frozen at some point and possibly thawed before it was opened, and when it was opened it exploded. The mayo coming from this jar doesn't look quite right either. The mayo could have gotten frozen if a customer decided they didn't want it and ditched it in a freezer in the frozen section.

I guess pregnant women should avoid the unpasteurized eggs, just like they should avoid everything that is unpasteurized just to be on the safe side.

Then again, what good did pasteurization do for Stop and Shop's Light Mayonnaise? If we had to pick, I'd still give a pregnant woman my homemade mayo before giving her the stuff pictured above :-)

@hillsrovey: 120% mayo in a 100% jar. maybe that extra 20% caused the explosion.

Anyways, we don't know for sure if the seal was compromised because of the gas buildup, or if it caused it. Either is possible, and the company would probably have to inspect or something to ensure that this did not happen to other jars from the same lot. The fact they were able to trade for a non-exploding jar is promising, though.

You'd think that simply emulsifying eggs and oil together could only turn out well, but somehow two such wonderful ingredients result in something so foul as mayonnaise.

I'm not a fan.

I guess that's a commissary for you, though.

This is interesting though. As in, disgusting interesting. Since it isn't even past its sell by date, why would it explode? Will we be seeing a massive mayo recall coming up? Stay tuned...

I think even store bought mayonaise goes bad fairly quickly on a relative basis compared to other products like ketchup or mustard.

I'm not sure as to why the jar would be bubbling since the article states that it was a new jar not a previously opened one that had been sitting in the fridge for some time. I would expect it to begin separating not bubbing over if it was expired.

I'm voting for bacterial contamination. Not sure what botulism looks like, and I'd be surprised if it had such a, uh, violent manisfestation. But definitely not anything I'd risk spreading on my sammich.

[www.imdb.com]

Bonus - 20% more mayo for free!

This wouldn't have happened if she just read the label. I can see right there under "Contains Soy, Eggs" it says "Contents may explode. When opening, hold jar away from face."

It wouldn't have surprised me if it was an '07 though. When I worked in a grocery store, I would spend hours in my section(meat) trying to get all the expired stuff off the shelfs, and would still miss stuff. Always be mindful of the dates. Most stores do a pretty good job, but no one is perfect.

Hey Ben,

Thanks for posting all those yummy-looking photos right before lunchtime. I'll definitely lose weight if I don't have an appetite. ;-)

Barf!

March 31st of '08? That's not out of date. I'm even more mystified as to how this could happen.

Am I misreading?