Fish past Use by Date...

Saad_2

Hello All,

I recently bought Mackerel from Sainsburys and its 'best before date / use-by' was yesterday (8 Feb 10). Is it still good to cook or should I just throw it in the bin? I hate wasting food and I'm not entirely convinced with this whole use by and best before dates.

Any help / suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

girl-in-a-hat

Hi Saad,

Some info from FSA -
Best before's http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/bestbefore/
Use by's http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/useby/

HTH

MunsterGirl

Smell it - if it smells good then use it otherwise bin it. I know what smells fine to one person may not to another, so if you don't like the smell throw it away.

M

MrsBartolozzi

Lots of threads on this sort of thing over on the OldStyle board. It has yesterday's date on it, look at it, does it look right - so give it a good sniff, does it smell ok? Try cooking a small piece maybe fry it (even if you are intending on cooking it another way) does it taste ok? If so then use it it should still be fine.
Just remember there is no magic "Cinderella" ingredient making food go off at midnight. These dates are for the supermarket's own protection, we should use our senses to determine if the food is still suitable to eat, remember it's not so long ago when there were no use by dates, and not that long before that when most people didn't have fridges. (it's worth remembering that food stored badly will go off even before the use by date, so you shouldn't rely on that either)

Saad_2

Thank you all for your suggestions. In the end the fish smelled bad so I just put it in the bin.

williham

Does mackerel ever smell good?

alwaysonthego_2

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underworld

Saad wrote: »

Thank you all for your suggestions. In the end the fish smelled bad so I just put it in the bin.

You did the right thing, fish goes "off" very quickly and can cause serious food poisoning if eaten.