I had a problem two years ago with seals giving out, after having sealed initially, and after 2-3 months of processing. It started happening more since the major lid companies changed their seals and process, which they didn't exactly advertise. If you are still putting your seals in simmering water, that might be what did it. In spite of changing my procedure, I still had more than the usual number of fails. So I ended up trying and swapping over to one of the new resealable systems that uses silicone rings. I also have some of the European style jars that use the ring seals as well. None of those have yet to fail me, after three years of use. If it seals to start with, it stays sealed. It's easier to tell if there is a fail to seal after processing, and I can easily clean and reprocess it immediately. So you might want to give that some thought. Ball and Kerr don't seem to be what they used to be.
The dates on food containers like lemon juice do not mean the contents are not safe to use after the date. Those dates are determined by the manufacturer, to guide to use when it would still be at its best flavor,etc. So your lemon juice was fine, providing you broke the original seals at the time. As far as your jam, the seal failures mean something went wrong at the time the seals were placed. It could be you had something on the rim, which prevented a full seal. Those jars might have been contaminated between the cleaning and the filling. It may be you have bad lids as well, or that you mistakenly thought they sealed and didn't. At any rate, you are highly unlikely to be brewing botulism in your jam. Far more likely to be growing mold. The high sugar and acidity of fruit jam would kill botulism spores. Now about eating it- I would not risk it. You have no way of knowing exactly why those seals failed, and there's just no reason to risk it. Best put it in to compost, or you can offer it to the wild birds as a winter treat, mixed with a bit of bird seed. Just check the seals on the other jars, to be certain they are still sealed. I've been canning and preserving for years, and sometimes you know- seals do just fail despite your best efforts. I've said a few naughty words myself, when I discover a seal failure as well. We all have. So relax, and say yours now. And enjoy the rest of the festive season.
Thank you for confirming my hopes. No more jars have popped, yet. I've also been making jam 40 plus years, created lots of recipes. I have had a jar unseal from time to time and just put them in freezer n use asap. But, to have 3 go off together kinda freaked me out! Thanks and Merry Christmas!
I'm not a canner myself, and one will no doubt weigh in eventually, but I would say offhand that you have a problem and it's not with the lemon juice; those jars shouldn't unseal.
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