How Old Is Your Vegemite?

Chazzozz on 25/04/2025 - 15:15
Last edited 25/04/2025 - 16:08 by 1 other user

About 13 years ago, when Kraft still owned the brand, they released a special edition of Vegemite where they renamed it to 'Australia' for a limited time. (The only online reference I can find to it is a 9 News article from 5 January, 2012.) We bought a jar of it at the time thinking it would be kinda cool to have, and for a while it proudly sat in a display cabinet with other Australiana-themed gee-gaws that Mrs C would occasionally cycle through. Eventually it got packed away when everything was replaced for a new display, and then promptly forgotten. Fast-forward to 2025 and we've been going through some old boxes of stuff in an effort to clean out the garage (a seemingly never-ending task). Lo & behold - what should we unpack but the untouched jar of 'Australia' spread. I jokingly said it would likely still be okay, but it got me wondering…

It's a bit of an urban myth that Vegemite never goes bad because of the excessive salt content, so I did some quick web searches to see what the real answer is. Surprisingly, the general consensus is that despite food labelling laws mandating a Best Before date be put onto products the average shelf-life of Vegemite is approximately 'forever'. It seems that as long as you don't let anything fall into it (bread crumbs, bits of butter or margarine, etc) then the Vegemite itself stays the same. I saw some reports of people finding mould but that it was only on the crumbs, and it's safe to remove those and still consume the Vegemite.

I checked the Best Before on our jar and it was the end of November 2012, but the jar had otherwise been unopened. Curious, I cracked open the lid and apart from a slightly stronger aroma it otherwise look fine. Mrs C dipped a finger in and tested the Vegemite, and declared "it tastes the same" so we decided to make a quick snack with it on VitaWheats with some cheese. Yep, tasted fine. Several hours later we're still standing and don't seem to have suffered any ill effects. I think the real test will be when I next have a hangover and whether putting a thick layer of the Vegemite on some toast will be the effective cure it normally is.

So, I'm wondering if folks 'round 'ere have done the same thing. Do you only eat Vegemite in date? Would you dare eating it when it's approaching 'vintage' status?

Food & Grocery Bega Spread

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Comments

  • mapax on 25/04/2025 - 15:22
    +7

    Yes. With vegemite too, last year we had a jar that was best before 2014. It seemed like it was a little thicker and stronger than regular, but considering how nearly everything is turning to shit these days maybe modern vegemite has done the same.

  • bargaino on 25/04/2025 - 15:32
    +11

    Archaeologists have tasted 3000 year old honey from Egyptian tombs. I'd say Vegemite will last longer.

    • buckster on 25/04/2025 - 16:01

      Wtf is wrong with them lol

      • mskeggs on 25/04/2025 - 17:15
        +1

        Why would it go "off"?
        What could happen?
        It's like the best before dates on salt or bottled water where the only thing that can degrade is the container.

        • simplystu on 25/04/2025 - 18:36
          +1

          Bottled water is slightly different again (especially hot climates - Northern AU) …But allows harmful bacteria to multiply.

          WRT transport of bottled water - to northern WA - There are actually strict requirements (again it comes back to potential for harmful bacteria to multiply inside the bottles).

          Getting back to vegimite … If stored proper temp (away from sunlight) - reckon would easliy last 20+ years + still be ok to put on your morning toast.

          • mskeggs on 25/04/2025 - 18:47

            @simplystu: I guess I'd be super surprised if any level of bacteria is allowed in water. The bacterial load between water kept for 11 months or 13 months should be zero, yet one is past the 'best before'.
            I think maybe the transport restrictions are about minimising the damage if there is contamination earlier in the supply chain, as it seems super risky to accept any level of bacterial contamination as a routine event - imagine all the people who don't keep the water they buy under the same conditions.

            • freefall101 on 25/04/2025 - 19:11
              +2

              @mskeggs: Bottled water is not sterilised. There's bacteria in basically everything, even the human body is loaded with it. There's definitely some level of bacteria in every bottle - just depends if it's good or bad and the levels of it.

              Some foods are antibacterial by nature (i.e. honey, lots of salt) which means they last because the bacteria can't really grow there. But water being water, a lot of stuff can grow in it given sunlight.

              • mskeggs on 25/04/2025 - 19:15

                @freefall101: I guess I don't know enough about water sources. I understood reverse osmosis filtered water to purity levels smaller than a bacteria. Maybe it's different for other water types like natural mineral water or something.

                • bargaino on 25/04/2025 - 20:01

                  @mskeggs: It still is not completely sterile, as bacteria can get in between filter and bottle.

                  Canned food is totally sterile, as it is cooked after being sealed.
                  I'm not sure but the same may apply to vegemite, added hot to jar, and sufficient heat maintained after seal to kill bugs.

                  • Muppet Detector on 26/04/2025 - 00:53

                    @bargaino: If canned food is totally sterile, then explain botulism.

                    • bargaino on 26/04/2025 - 02:29
                      +1

                      @Muppet Detector:

                      explain botulism.

                      Is google broken? Botulism poisoning is very rare, and even then mostly not from food. It happened in the past sometimes from spores in improperly treated canned food.

                      • Muppet Detector on 26/04/2025 - 18:30

                        @bargaino: Google not broken. Clostridium botulinum not rare. It is however the most severe of the food born pathogens. Commonly associated with canned food as it is a spore forming bacteria, typically food born, which requires being subject to heat at boiling point for more than twenty minutes to destroy.

            • simplystu on 25/04/2025 - 20:00

              @mskeggs: sorry - but no.
              It is 100% due to transporting up north (rather than possible issues earlier in process).

              One such company - even requires their pallets of water to be wrapped in black plastic - prior to transport (to prevent bacteria multiplying due to sunlight).

              Anyway - getting slightly off-topic here.

              • mskeggs on 25/04/2025 - 22:11
                +2

                @simplystu: I'll stick to the tap water I usually drink (although I live in the Blue Mountains in NSW where lately there has been an issue with PFAS in the water that may or may not have been a concern, but testing has been sometimes absent).

                It is weird to me that I have had really good faith in stuff like water quality, but often a scratch under the surface shows things I haven't considered. This is why experts are valuable, and even when I think I have a good handle on the things involved, there can be issues not visible to non-experts.
                To be fair, the one line message is "the water is safe".

                I previously wouldn't have considered the risk of bacterial contamination in bottled water - I guess because stuff like the measures you describe have always meant that contamination didn't happen in normal use.
                But I extrapolated safety in a different way to the safety the actual measures give - water before I get it has been handled to avoid any unsafe level of bacterial contamination, but if I left it in the sun I would break that chain, and maybe the assurance isn't the same.

                For me this is a really great way forums like OzB increase my knowledge. I am also sure someone reading this will draw the opposite conclusion and say "bottled water isn't safe" without thinking about it actually meaning there are regulations in place to make it safe in almost every circumstance.

                • Embaloo on 27/04/2025 - 08:34

                  @mskeggs: What have you done re. the high PFAs? Are you just drinking bottled water/filtering?

          • juki on 26/04/2025 - 22:34

            @simplystu: as a teen i worked in a milk factory, we moved a machine and found 10 year old milk in a tetra pack behind a machine, so of course we drank it. Totally fine but it was a tetra pack which i dont see much in oz.

            Dont know how people have vegemite that old, it gets eaten within the month.

    • bbinc on 26/04/2025 - 08:33
      +2

      Not a chance in our house. Never seen a jar here even approach the Best Before.
      Even the tube kept for travelling gets used when stocks are low.

      • Protractor on 26/04/2025 - 22:13
        +3

        Awesome. Order Of Straya nomination is in the mail. You (sir/madam) are a true blue,dinky di,fair dinkum,dead set Aussie leg end.
        Your cheeks must be glowing like beetroot.

      • sween64 on 28/04/2025 - 09:47

        Last time k had rube Vegemite was in 2009 and it was pretty gross compared to jarred Vegemite. Has it improved since?

  • tenpercent on 25/04/2025 - 15:40

    I just finished off a 2015 (best before) vintage jar of Vegemite. One of the big jars.
    Does the new stuff still taste the same or has it suffered the effects of inflation and enshitification?

    • sween64 on 28/04/2025 - 09:48
      +1

      Tastes the same to me. Just like BBQ Shapes there would be outrage if they changed the recipe.

  • JenPat on 25/04/2025 - 16:02

    No too old. I have dropped more glass jars of Vegemite than I care to recall!

    • mskeggs on 25/04/2025 - 18:48

      We buy the big ones (almost $10 now!) and it breaks your heart and your toe if you drop and break one.

    • bargaino on 25/04/2025 - 20:05
      +3

      Do you remember toothpaste being in lead tubes, like artists' paint?

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/04/2025 - 16:43
    +1

    Do you only eat Vegemite in date

    Well I’m more a promite type of operator..

    • Protractor on 25/04/2025 - 18:24
      -1

      Just buy Vegemite and add sugar. Same result.

    • theHMASfriendship on 25/04/2025 - 21:41
      +5

      I’m sorry to hear that

    • poppingtags on 26/04/2025 - 12:56
      +1

      Try Bovril if you can, imagine if Vegemite was made out of beef. That's Bovril.

      • juki on 26/04/2025 - 22:35

        isnt that marmite?

    • Protractor on 25/04/2025 - 18:23
      +31

      This sentiment is legal to feel, but illegal and un-Strayan to express. Pack your bags.

      • Muppet Detector on 26/04/2025 - 00:57
        +3

        He probably doesn't own Ugg boots either…

      • Jackson on 26/04/2025 - 16:17
        +1

        Along with peace activism or welcome to countries on Anzac day it seems

    • Chazzozz on 25/04/2025 - 22:34

      I swear, the first time Mrs C (who was then 'girlfriend of C') gave me some to try I honestly thought she was trying to poison me. But, after emigrating here I grew to love the stuff. Our youngest is currently living overseas and every year we've slipped a small jar of it into a care package, along with other home comforts. Given the brouhaha that's recently erupted, though, we may need to be more circumspect about it in the future.

  • Cluster on 25/04/2025 - 17:02
    +1

    I have a few jars of Vegemite when they went all 'howya doin' kool kids!' and named their product iSnack 2.0 in 2009. I don't plan to ever open them.

    Steve1989MREInfo on Youtube eats military rations from the Vietnam war, WW2, and earlier. As long as the tin has not rusted certain products like jam and peanut butter seem to have an infinite shelf life. Vegemite is so damn salty that it'll probably go hard but never rancid.

    • gooston on 26/04/2025 - 19:41
      +1

      Nice hiss.

  • Stewardo on 25/04/2025 - 17:07

    Best before is different to Use by. You can still eat things past best before date. They just may not be at their best.

  • Protractor on 25/04/2025 - 18:22
    +1

    2 things will survive Armageddon. Cockroaches and Vegemite.

    When the ocean needs salt,it calls Vegemite.

    • RogerLoger on 25/04/2025 - 19:13
      -1

      You need to read the label. It's not THAT salty. Daily allowance value is 7%, which is in the range of an average slice of bread.
      Look up Umami.

      • Protractor on 25/04/2025 - 20:50

        I read the label. With my taste buds.
        ; )
        So salty that many ppl interpret it as Umami. Define how much (physical size, not weight) is a daily allowance of V-mite. A teaspoon,a third,an quarter?
        Don't get me wrong, I do eat it on toast or raw bread,now & then.I just limit it.

        • RogerLoger on 26/04/2025 - 07:13

          More like, people confuse umami with saltiness. I limit vegemite and bread.

          Serving size of vegemite is about 5g. So, 1 teaspoon. That's hard to spread thin. I suspect they thickened the formula when the Americans bought out Kraft to make us eat more, and Bega didn't return it to the old formula. Instead, they bought out a squeezy bottle that costs far more per gram and only half empties.

          • Protractor on 26/04/2025 - 09:28

            @RogerLoger: 1 teaspoon would be about 4 slices of toast worth, unless you spread it like butter. (which of course , the normal variety also has salt). I'm not denying it has Umami, I'm saying to most peoples palates it's as salty AF, and that would numb their ability to discern that extra layer of taste.In fact I'm sure there's a news article (yesterday?) that goes to Vegemite and Umami. I like to think of Umami as more an after taste.

            EDIT
            https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-25/is-vegemite-packed-wi…

            • RogerLoger on 26/04/2025 - 10:56

              @Protractor: They do overdo the salt, however, I'm sure it was originally intended to be spread thinly. That's difficult when the modern concoction seems to be made thicker. The squeezy variety would be fine if they put it in jars instead of the impossible to empty squeeze bottle.

              Fish sauce is a reasonable substitute for salt in recipes. The Umami in it adds flavour, so you get away with less salt overall. Squid brand is 20% salt, so again, needs to be used with care.

              Thanks for the link.

              • Protractor on 26/04/2025 - 11:04

                @RogerLoger: Yeah it does seem more viscous or tacky. It pretty much tears the surface off the toast if you go in too early after buttering. Maybe a quick zap in the microwave first, could improve the spread?

                EDIT>
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXv2Z1zDdWA

                • RogerLoger on 26/04/2025 - 11:36

                  @Protractor: I refuse to watch Ch9 promos.

                  There are a couple of way to thin out vegemite. I'm reluctant to zap it for fear of uneven heating doing something unwanted. A warm water bath would probably make spreading easier, but you'd be back to having to do it again next morning. I read 'mix with olive oil' somewhere. Our stick mix won't fit the jar, so thorough mixing with oil sounds like a lot of work.

                  I wrote to Kraft years ago and complained about the increased viscosity. A PR department response came with expected BS, no confirmation or denial, and a suggestion I send details of the batch number. That was about 12 months before they released the squeezy bottle, but I'm definitely not claiming any connection!

                  • Protractor on 26/04/2025 - 11:53

                    @RogerLoger: Fair enough.It's pretty meh anyway. The response you got sounds like a copy paste of most places.
                    These days America is probably disposing of unwanted radioactive waste in it.

    • bbinc on 26/04/2025 - 08:39
      +1

      I’m unpopular here for buying the salt reduced version. So there’s always a jar or two of both.

  • Drpepper666 on 25/04/2025 - 20:14

    it definitely goes bad

    • Protractor on 25/04/2025 - 20:46

      Yep.We had some from one of the small pkgs in a motel on toast once. It was rancid.

      • lgacb08 on 25/04/2025 - 21:44
        +3

        they literally has no fat in it so definitely can't go rancid.

        • RogerLoger on 26/04/2025 - 08:10

          It can go off if you contaminate it. Spread the vegemite then the butter and it should last past the date. It thickens as it ages. I reckon the formula is now thicker, which makes it difficult to spread thin. Spreading thick is what puts the rest of the world off it. We addicts have to cope.

          • mapax on 26/04/2025 - 08:15
            +2

            @RogerLoger: I use a separate knife for butter and a separate knife for the vegemite. It keeps both clean.

          • sween64 on 28/04/2025 - 09:49

            @RogerLoger: Are you spreading your butter on top of your Vegemite?

            • RogerLoger on 28/04/2025 - 10:07

              @sween64: Yes. It's an un-Aussie compromise method. Depending how over-thick the Vegemite is, I can get thin spread without tearing toast to pieces. To a degree, butter does slide across Vegemite. IMO clumps of butter are better than clumps of Vegemite. If Bega fixed the viscosity of Vegemite, I'd go back to the old way.

  • Aap Ke Papa on 25/04/2025 - 22:59
    +1

    I m buying 500g every 3 months. gotta stop eating too much but I love it. Butter and Vegemite. Butter Vegemite Avo.

    • Protractor on 26/04/2025 - 13:07
      +1

      Your arteries now resemble Vegemite. You should scrape them and recycle it

  • lilbudgie on 26/04/2025 - 09:21
    +1

    Only this morning I looked up why pink salt is indeed pink. It seems it is from some ancient salt reserve that was found under rock in Pakistan. Yes I looked and it was product of Pakistan. The kicker here is that it is thousands of years old but on the bottom of my container of pink salt it has a best before date of 12/2027. I got a real laugh out of that

    • Cluster on 26/04/2025 - 10:18
      +3

      I've seen a work colleague look at a bottle of salt in the kitchen, declare it's past its best before date, and throw it in the bin.

      Extraordinary.

      If you ever get the chance, visit a salt mine in Europe. The one in Poland is extraordinary. They even built an entire underground church out of salt. Salt that's millions of years old, but has a best before date :-)

      • Protractor on 26/04/2025 - 13:08
        +2

        Is Lots wife holding the roof up?

      • Parentheses on 26/04/2025 - 22:23

        Salt will go 'off' - the anti-caking agent that's in the pre-ground stuff will fail, and over time moisture will get into the flake stuff and clump it all together. It's not going to kill you, but it's entirely correct that it was best to use the salt before that happened, so 'best before' is 100% true.

        • Chazzozz on 27/04/2025 - 10:02
          +1

          I had occasion to notice, recently, the table salt in our tea room at work had just quietly celebrated it's 10th anniversary of being 'out of date'. Still ran fine with no caking, and just as salty as ever. I said a soft "Goodonya, Mate!" because it had been faithfully seasoning staff lunches for well over a decade. Plenty left, too, so I reckon it's got at least another half-decade in it!

          I guess the main risk here is what's leached into it from the HDPE container it's been sitting in all these years?

          • Parentheses on 27/04/2025 - 16:44
            +2

            @Chazzozz: Uh… you may want to check your maths there a little.

            In any case, the speed it will have issues will probably depend on the humidity, so they've calibrated it for the Top End or something. It's also possible you have an office den mother who has been refilling that for years and nobody realised. I once saw a boss exclaim 'hey look everyone, we've finally run out of coffee after 5 years' - no, his assistant was on maternity leave.

            • Chazzozz on 27/04/2025 - 18:33

              @Parentheses: Oh - LOL. Mea culpa on that one. And, no, it hasn’t been refilled. Of anyone on staff it’s me who does the most for the tea room. Everyone else does the basics but no more. Maybe a rod for my own back but I only do it because I don’t like to see it get grotty and I’m a stickler for ensuring the coffee maker’s in good nick.

    • RogerLoger on 26/04/2025 - 11:16
      +1

      There's scientific testing involved in setting expiry nd best before dates. It seems a lot of companies just stick a date 12 months ahead for a mandatory 'best before' date. Measuring minor deterioration in quality would be incredibly difficult, so it makes some sense.

      Regulations say products may be sold after a 'best before' date (cos the quality MAY deteriorate), but it is unlawful to sell something after the 'use by' date (cos it may be almost starting to go off).

      https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/food-labelling/stay-saf…

    • Erwark on 26/04/2025 - 19:25
      +1

      Thousands of years old and you got it with 2 years left. That's so lucky - it must have a very mature taste.

  • iCandy on 26/04/2025 - 11:24

    I’ve never had to throw out Vegemite.

  • Lastchancetosee on 26/04/2025 - 11:58

    It lasts forever…

    • Lastchancetosee on 26/04/2025 - 12:00

      …would feed the cockroaches post nuclear holocaust.

  • EightImmortals on 26/04/2025 - 12:33

    I've got a couple of jars of iSnack2 in the drawer..soon now…..soon.

  • try2bhelpful on 26/04/2025 - 17:19

    I suspect it tastes as disgusting as it does fresh.

    If in doubt use it as a bouillon in cooking.

  • lordezekiel on 26/04/2025 - 21:06

    Current jar is about 4 years old since it was bought and opened. It's perfectly edible and probably even more pungent/strong tasting, i'm just more of a promite person most of the time, but ocassionally i want that powerful vegemite punch to the taste buds.

  • Parentheses on 26/04/2025 - 22:21

    My family and I had the unfortunate honour of seeing what Vegemite does (or at least did) when it goes off. In I want to say 2010 or so, a very old relative's husband died, and we went in to help clean out the house as she was moving into assisted living afterwards. She was about 80 at the time, and had some ooooooooold stuff in there. One of the things was a jar of Vegemite with a date sometime in the 1970s printed on it in the back of the pantry - she hadn't been using it, I think it was just too high and too far back and neither of them were climbing steps to clear out the back corners for a long time.

    It had gone the sort of yellow you get when you run over black texta with a yellow highlighter. I think just because all the moisture was gone out of it - it was crumbly, and nothing was growing on it or anything. I wish now I'd tried adding some water to see if it went black again, it might have still been good.

  • kaleidoscope on 27/04/2025 - 10:21

    1 yr+ for a 500g bottle

  • lordezekiel on 27/04/2025 - 11:03

    Old enough to vote.

  • ForkSnorter on 27/04/2025 - 11:31
    -2

    I accidentally left a bucket full of rotting squid and fish guts in the garden with a lid on it for 18 months. When I lifted up the lid, it smelt like the worse rotten dead thing you could ever imagine, and was wriggling with maggots. I put a few spoonfuls of it on my ice cream, it was delicious.

    • ForkSnorter on 28/04/2025 - 06:38

      Not as delicious as Vegemite though.

  • Kiro on 27/04/2025 - 19:33

    Got one dated and still in use at my work desk 2014. Has more tang or bitterness but really nothing else. It was one of the largest glass jars.

    Oh and I'd prefer promote which only lasts a couple of weeks.

  • cheekymonkey97 on 27/04/2025 - 22:17

    This would make the perfect dull men’s club post lol

  • AS2035 on 28/04/2025 - 19:03

    buy small jars if you do not eat it often.

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