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

malcolmwilliamson

On a recent Fullers brewery tour the guide suggested that the Best Before date on their live ales (e.g. Vintage Ales, 1845) should really read Best Well After.
The law requires them to put the BB date on. Real ales undergo secondary fermentation and continue to develop in the bottle.

charlies_mum

I used to throw everything away, but since reading previous posts about this, I check with my nose and eyes first.

A few weeks ago, I did eat a beef lasagne that had gone over its use by date by one day, and that wasn't a good idea. I'll spare you the gory details, but I did suffer the next day :eek:

Butterfli

I think my g/daughter has taken on board the message to check sell by dates a little too well.

Getting ready for a dinner party recently she was helping me and when I opened the rather expensive 1997 wine early to let it breathe she gave me a lecture on the dangers of out of date food!

When I explained she told me she was going to advise her Mum not to drink it anyway, "just in case!"
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Butterfli

gravitytolls

If it's not green and it smells okay, we eat it. IF it feels firm and it'snot growing antibiotics, we eat it.

The only time I may be a little more wary is with fish.

liney

I dont go out of my way to ignore sell/use by dates, but i will make soup with mankey looking veg, and crumbles with fruit on the turn, muffins with bananas etc. I don't waste food, just make sure i use it up before it goes off.

Perhaps of you are regularly throwing food away (for any reason) you are simply buying too much in the first place, and could reduce your shopping bill abit )

Gilla_2

I'd only throw jam, etc out if it develops mould or looks slimey on the top.

Eggs are quite happy out of the fridge, but preferably not in a too warm spot. If you're making meringue, older egg whites beat up much better than fresh ones.

I grew up with my family running a village shop, and we ate all the out-of-date food, and we're all still around and my mother lived to her mid 80's.

My OH thinks out of date things should be thrown - so I make sure he can't see the dates!

Fresh fish I wouldn't use out-of-date, but most other things. Cheese especially is fine.

odds-n-sods

sounds about right, liney. BBF dates aren't just a conspiracy - they are there to aid people in deciding when something is good to eat or not. We dont know nowadays when that cow was killed, that egg laid, that yogurt cultured, or that loaf of bread was made, so the dates help us decide. Not to be used blindly like some people do.

common sense should be used, but I dont' think eating cheese that sat in your fridge for years was common sense.

JAZZJIM

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

You can test if eggs are off by doing the float test Just wish I could remember which way round it is - sink/off or float/off :rotfl:

Fresh Eggs sink and Bad Eggs Float. Jazz

Seakay

I've always though of use by/sell by dates as a way of getting money off by buying from the reduced section if I'm in the supermarket rather than as something which should outweigh the evidence of my own eyes, nose and experience.
Salad in bags often looks manky before the sell by date because it is too wet, tomates are often sold off cheap because the sell by date is reached but the are at the peak of ripeness.
If you buy from a greengrocer or a butcher then there are no dates to go by, so it makes sense that such dates have to be arbitrary.

Also, think back to basic biology - not all moulds are bad anyway. Some are non poisonous and will remain on the outside so can be removed (bread, cheese).
See previous threads for discussion of non-dangerous flourescent sheen on bacon.

finjack

Im actually getting to the point of being ill if I have anything in date! my hubbie is always buying food when reduced! saying that we have many great meals for a fraction of the cost! and no Ive nevre been ill from eating any of it! its common sense really... I would not eat salmon/prawns ect once they have gone past there date ( saying that had a lovely prawn sarnie yesterday that was 40p rather than the £1.99 it should have been! ) as for the flour man... no throw it away! you get little weavel kinda things in it so out of date flour just chuck it! its amazing the shelf life still in items... even yogurt! again common sense if it smells or tastes off then chuck it! its rare weve had to do that except for the mountains of bread hubbie buys which the birds have then anyway!! gotta admit we eat well from it! and all for a fraction of the cost! :j