Do you follow Use by and Sell by Dates, and other food safety issues

LouBlue

Farway wrote: »

Why not cook them today if you are worried, then eat them tomorrow?

Cooked & left overnight in fridge they will be fine

Good idea, read this point too late though.

Ping-winged - yes will do that, thanks.

Barefoot_Briain

I certainly agree with the "smells, looks, tastes OK" brigade. Whilst I wouldn't suggest that others go as far as I do, I definitely think the dates are very conservative. I regularly eat yoghurts that are 6 weeks out of date. But in a more extreme case I finished a pack of chocolate mousses that were 6 MONTHS after their use by date. And even more recently I discovered the remains of a "sausage" pate which was also 6 MONTHS out of date. I ate it and had no adverse reaction at all!! I think a lot of it is down to personal resistance to bugs and some of it is a result of what we expect to happen - I don't expect to get ill.

Barefoot_Briain

Jo6673 wrote: »

I'll risk anything for a couple of days except milk, bit funny about that!!!

I once found a carton of UHT full fat milk in my fridge. It smelt OK, looked a little strange (it had seperated), but tasted OK, so I ATE it. It was over 11 YEARS after its use by date!! I suffered no ill effects and the experience was quite interesting!

HappyIdiotTalk

I remember reading an article in a science magazine (probably Focus) about this sort of thing. There is a formula that accurately predicts the rate of bacterial growth in fresh food. This is used to determine sell by and use by dates.

Unfortunately I read the article about 10 years ago and cant remember much about it. I do however remember deciding that it would be a good idea to stick to the use by dates regardless of what the food smelt like or looked like.

Also cooking bad food will not make it safe, it'll kill the bateria, but not the poison they have already produced.

That said, I found a tin of peas in the back of the cupboard over Christmas. I have them with some fish and chips. The use by date on the can was early 2005. They were fine. I'll eat anything in a tin regardless of date, but am very cautious about fresh food. The way I see it, is it worth making yourself ill to save 50p or whatever...

nesssie1702

Anything that's in a can will have been processed (via heat and pressure) to such a level that it will kill off even Clostridium bacteria.

Not all bacteria produce toxins, with some, like E. coli 0157, the infective dose is as little as 10 bacteria.

Predicting the rate of bacterial growth in food is fine if temperature is a constant, however there are times when you just can't be sure if the chill chain has been maintained, either in distribution of the product, by the retailer or even by the consumer on the way home.

You might be surprised at the number of people that will do their shopping first thing in the morning, go to work all day and then empty the boot of the car...... Maybe okay in the winter, but not at all in the summer when the ambient air temperature can be anything between 15 - 25 ºC

Saying that, a wee bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing I'll quite happily use things after the Use by date - my nose is a wonderful thing!

Farway

I was in a pub last Sunday, and one bloke got a phone call from his wife, the spuds were past their use by date and he would have to go & get some more for the roast dinner

Of course all use old uns told him she was off her rocker, you can use spuds with blooming great shoots on them, just cut them off, no dates on them when I dig them up etc

All to no avail, so perfectly good spuds in the bin

PrinceGaz

nesssie1702 wrote: »

Anything that's in a can will have been processed (via heat and pressure) to such a level that it will kill off even Clostridium bacteria.

Not all bacteria produce toxins, with some, like E. coli 0157, the infective dose is as little as 10 bacteria.

Predicting the rate of bacterial growth in food is fine if temperature is a constant, however there are times when you just can't be sure if the chill chain has been maintained, either in distribution of the product, by the retailer or even by the consumer on the way home.

You might be surprised at the number of people that will do their shopping first thing in the morning, go to work all day and then empty the boot of the car...... Maybe okay in the winter, but not at all in the summer when the ambient air temperature can be anything between 15 - 25 ºC

Saying that, a wee bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing I'll quite happily use things after the Use by date - my nose is a wonderful thing!

Do people actually do that? Do their supermarket shopping in the morning then leave even chilled (or worse, frozen) items in the car all day? Frozen items have to be kept frozen because even partial defrosting compromises their taste and texture.

Chilled items that you'd keep in a fridge, even on an average autumn or spring day are soon going to reach around 10C if left in a car, and if left all day whilst at work at those temperatures it will knock several days off their life. In the summer, leaving chilled items in the car all day uses up their entire safe storage time in a fridge there and then- by the time you take it home and put it in your fridge, you may as well consider it being past the Use By date.

The only sensible option is to get your shopping in the evening and take it straight home, as that way you know it has been kept at the correct temperature and you can safely use it up to, and probably a bit beyond the printed Use By date much more safely. Most people don't realise just how important fridge temperature is to the safe storage of chilled-food, even a degree or two warmer means a day or two less. The closer your fridge is to freezing point (without actually starting to freeze anything), the better, as it will keep food fresh much longer than a fridge at the upper-end of the the recommended range of 5C.

The ideal temperature for a fridge is probably 1C, just enough above freezing to prevent anything in it actually freezing. Pretty much everyone I visit have fridges which after something has been in overnight is still only down to about 6-8C. At those temperatures, product Use By dates really have to be taken seriously because those are the sort of temperatures they had the safety margin built in for. When you keep your fridge at the optimum temperature (either with its own thermostat, or using an external sensor and adjusting the fridge thermostat as required), Use By dates become more like "you should really start using now" dates.

I know keeping the fridge at the proper (just above freezing) temperature costs more than keeping it just cool, but the added time everything can be kept for more than makes up for it. I can keep milk in my fridge for a full week (so long as it is still within its Use By date, or no more than two or so days beyond), and it tastes fine, unlike two day old milk kept in fridges at well above the ideal temperature, such that it it is already starting to turn.

dandy-candy

First up I want to say I am in NO WAY recommending people at home follow my example, I am just mentioning things I do that probably wouldn't be allowed in health and safety guidelines.

I was reading on another thread that someone said they throw away jam once it's been opened for 4 weeks and I have to admit jam in my house sits in the fridge until its eaten or growing mould. I dont remember them even having a 4 week rule on them in the past, and when I still lived at home we didn't even keep it in the fridge...

When i'm making cakes at home I still eat the mix from the bowl before washing up even though the egg in it is raw...

I happily nibble at leftovers from lunch that have been sitting on the side all afternoon instead of put in the fridge...

Ofc course I never do stuff I think of as seriously dodgy like eating undercooked chicken or pork, or cans that have "blown" and I am religious about wiping down surfaces and hand washing, but is it that I get away with the other stuff because I have innards of steel from a 70's style upbringing or does everyone eat stuff like this without getting ill?

boredjellybean

I don't even throw the jam away once there is mould :eek: I just get a spoon & scoop out any affected bits & carry on, I usually keep jam in the cupboard but having had to scrape a load of mould off the other day decided it was too warm at this time of year & have now shoved it in the fridge

my daughter tried to eat something from her lunchbox the other day at school, it had fallen on the floor & she picked it up & blew on it but had it taken away :rotfl: oops what have i taught her

BJB

Edit: I too lick the spoon when making cakes - even let the children do it - off now mumbling about the state the world is coming too tehehe

Claire_Bear

I tend to completely ignore use by dates and use my common sense- if it looks ok, smells ok and tastes ok then it gets eaten. I don't believe that food suddenly goes off at the stroke of midnight after the use by date.

I reheat rice all the time even though people have said its a big no-no and nothing bade ever happened.

Mmmmm raw cake mix