To my knowledge, noodles don't go bad. Not any time soon.
Most sources say dried pasta properly stored (cool, dry place) lasts for a couple of years past the 'use by' date. Sealed in glass or mylar with oxygen absorbers, I'd go almost indefinite (out of sunlight, cool, dry place). But the store shelf packaging, with less than optimum conditions, and allowing for the presence of bugs, the person throwing it out may have had good reason to doubt it, and might have figured the critters would eat it instead.
Mice might have gotten into that pantry, too.
It doesn't look like there were any critters getting fat off of it, either...maybe the rats at the dump.