Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

beemuzed

Clutterydrawer has it here - if use by, then no. Try the nose test if best before.

ragz_2

Definitely eat it as long as it smells/looks ok. I give my toddlers fromage frais that's months out of date, if the fridge is the right temp. it seems to keep for ages. I hate to throw stuff away!

Kavanne

Ooh similarly I have some mozarella cheese (the wet, ungrated kind), unopened and sealed from October. Says it expired Mid Nov. Still OK to use?

Kavanne

anyone? i've started cooking so a speedy response would be very handy!

Rikki

Kavanne wrote: »

anyone? i've started cooking so a speedy response would be very handy!

The cheese should be fine.
I often eat out of date cheese. I just cut any mould off and use it. Stilton is a mouldy cheese so personally I don't see a problem.

nesssie1702

The cheese and the yogurt will both be fine.

I can never really understand why yogurt is given a Use By date, yes it's made with milk, but because of the sourness due to the lactic acid producing bacteria, this inhibits most of the spoilage and pathogenic bacteria from growing.

You'll find that most hard cheeses are labelled with a best before date rather than a use by, as they are too dry and too salty for bacteria to grow in. That's why they go mouldy.

With mozzarella, the worst that could happen is that it's soured too much. Hope that it was okay for your tea tonight, Kavanne?

I frequently eat OOD yogurt and cheese and it's never harmed me!

Kavanne

Nessie, just eaten and all fine so far lol!

nesssie1702

If your salmon smells okay then I'd go for it. As a rule, because salmon is a fatty fish, it's more likely to go rancid. It's an infrequent cause of food poisoning in the UK and when it does happen, it's most likely due to cross contamination.

Fish related food poisoning tends to be related to tuna - scrombotoxic poisoning, especially. Or with shellfish, which can be due to the presence of viruses or shellfish toxins (DSP)

juliapenguin

nesssie1702 wrote: »

If your salmon smells okay then I'd go for it. As a rule, because salmon is a fatty fish, it's more likely to go rancid. It's an infrequent cause of food poisoning in the UK and when it does happen, it's most likely due to cross contamination.

Fish related food poisoning tends to be related to tuna - scrombotoxic poisoning, especially. Or with shellfish, which can be due to the presence of viruses or shellfish toxins (DSP)

Gosh, doesn't 'scrombotoxic poisoning' sound awful? And kind of rude too :rotfl:

mk_wotsit

I got food poisoning from some smoked haddock that had been in the freezer for a long long time!
I'll never do it again....i had to take 2 days off work and was a bit iffy for several days after.

I wouldn't risk it! :eek: