I did a foreclosure cleanup many years ago and underneath a collapsed barn was a root cellar packed full of canned goods from the 50s and 60s. After a few beers after work we started daring each other to eat some of it and well, you know how that goes.... There was only one or two popped lids and maybe one that had mold or discoloration in them, the rest were fine. We definitely didn't eat those knowing that there could be something else worse than death in there... But, the rest were fine. Well OK. Peas, green beans, pickles, sauerkraut, etc.. They didn't taste or smell bad, but just didn't taste good. Reminds me of an over steamed vegetable eaten for leftovers the day after. Definitely not bad, but if you're going to chew on something, that was probably not going to be the first choice. No one got sick, no squirts, upset stomach, or anything. I truly think that is was a tribute to the fact that canning was an art back then and a necessity to save money, so they had to do it right to survive. My wife's canning, well, um, yeah, no.
Send it to me. I’ll throw it in some home made sauerkraut pierogis and feed it to my mother in law.. kidding course..
I think it's all relative. If the survivors of that plane crash in the Andes in the 1970s could get their hands on 40 year old sauerkraut, I'm sure they would have eaten it. Likewise, what looks like a jar of NOPE to us now might start to look appetizing under certain "ism" situations. I recently came across this guy's channel and found it intriguing. He's eaten a plethora of old food that I can't even fathom stomaching.