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

cooking-mama

chivers1977 wrote: »

I would never even look at the BBE date on milk. THe smell test on milk is all you need!

True,but its not the Best Before date thats the issue....its the Use by date(something completely different.)

Smell is not a good indicator of food safety,food poisoning germs have no colour or odour,The nasty smell from food is often due to "food spoilage" which altho wouldnt taste very nice,wouldnt necessaruly cause illness,its the germs that we cant see or smell that are most dangerous,hence the need for food safety labeling such as Use by dates.

sandiep

What did we all do before we had BB and UB dates? Did vast quantities of people die each day? Or maybe everyone just used their common sense and didn't rely on the nanny state to protect us from our stupidity. Or maybe people just cooked and used food everyday, were used to handling it and preparing it, and knew what it should feel and taste and smell like. Maybe we're all just so used to opening a packet and bunging it in the cooker and never actually cooking that no-one actually has any food knowledge anymore, and we all rely on civil servants to save us from certain death.

Penelope_Penguin

cooking-mama wrote: »

hope im not too late,but you should never eat food past its use by date!,the use by date is for food safety

Until recenly, my signature included something along the lines of "avoid the tyranny of dates on produce, and get back in touch with your food". When did people stop using their common sense on this issue No wonder 25% of edible food goes from the supermarket straight to the dustbin - it's a scandal :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I'll add this to the existing thread on dates, to keep ideas together.

Penny. x

samanthaneww2d

hi having been inspired to use all my stuff up i have "found" allsorts of things in my freezer(inc a whole chicken) and cupboards I have found a few ourt of date items and wondered if people thought they were ok to use still these are all best before dates
Tinned grapefruit dec 2008
singapore noodles ( those straight to wok ones) Feb 09 and Aug 09
various Hoisin sauce jars and various sweet and sour andcurry sauce with dates ranging from Feb 09 to Sep 09
Microwaveable rice Feb 09

thanks so very much
any inspiration for Hoisin sauce would be good also have some greek sauce which I have not a clue what to do with.

Raspberry_Swirl

The straight to wok noodles tend to have an oily coating on them so you would see straightaway if they're mouldy. I would use those with some of the hoisin sauce and stir fry veg/meat to make an easy, quick dinner.

Chicken and veggies cooked in the hoisin sauce would also work well over the rice.

Butterfly_Brain

I always use my eyes and nose and if it seems ok I use it - sell by dates are only a guide as to the quality after a certain amount of time.
We never had sell by dates before the late 70's and we survived

Penelope_Penguin

samanthaneww2d wrote: »

any inspiration for Hoisin sauce would be good also have some greek sauce which I have not a clue what to do with.

I'd use your OOD items

We use hoisin sauce with duck or goose for Chinese pancakes, or on wraps

No idea what Greek sauce is

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread on dates.

Penny. x

Stompa

This site is worth a look:

http://www.stilltasty.com/

(though note that it's American)

HannahIOW

Hi everyone

Was just about to open a tin of fruit cocktail in juice (princes) and now have noticed it was BBE sept 09... can i eat it?? I'm on a diet and i am so hungry lol

Thanks

zippychick

I would.... do the sniff test! I'm sure it's fine but it's entirely up to you.