Past it's sell by date: Tonight prog

calleyw

ceridwen wrote: »

The thing that strikes me here when thinking about all the food that gets thrown out - by McDonald's, supermarkets, households, etc is recalling the fact that Britain is apparently only producing 48% of the food required to feed us all. Well - if all this waste was stopped then that would have to decrease the amount of food we need to import one heck of a lot - and improve our "food security" quite a bit.

Don't you think that it stems from too much choice.

Years ago you would not have 40 different types of biscuits or 20 different types of tea bag.

We have been given too much freedom and can't cope with it. In general a lot of people have no idea how to cook let alone price or plan a meal.

Heard a story not sure if it was true over heard in a supermarket. Two young females in the pasta aisle choosing tea and one said to the other lets have pasta the other one said "I don't know how to cook it":eek:

Yours

Calley

Olliebeak

Walking around Asda one evening, the conversation between a young couple (early 20's) was hilarious. 'What do you want for dinner this evening?' 'Not sure, do you feel like cooking?' 'Oh yes, I'll cook something - what do you want then?' 'Not really sure, but I'm starving!' 'OK then - how about a Pot Noodle!' :eek: :eek: They made their way to the checkout with a full-sized shopping trolley and 2 very lonely Pot Noodles sitting in the bottom.

My OH nearly got himself a hernia trying not to laugh out loud!

catnap53

Much fresh food used to be locally produced (not oranges of course) and shopping was a daily task with only the larder to put things in. Senses were used to tell when food was off, look, smell, and taste. Even then it was not wasted unless absolutely unavoidable. I remember a cousin being given a slice of bread by my grandmother. He broke it against the edge of the table.

Then came the idea of processed foods and preservatives to stave off bacteria. Then we got health worries about the preservatives and took them out, hence the 'need' for dates on fresh foods. Why we have them on tins is a little strange. I was always taught to examine tins before opening them. They can be damaged and contaminate the food before the date on them.

Anyway, as I have been trained in microbiology it might be expected that I would be super careful about sell by or use by dates. Not so, I prefer the old methods.

What some people (DH of over 30 years) don't understand is that there is a difference between an unopened packet of ham a week past its use by date, and a packet that was opened a week ago and is still 'in date'.

If the food is going to be cooked that also makes the choice of whether I use it easier. Proper cooking will kill any bacteria, and there are only a few cases when it is a build up of toxin in the food that cooking doesn't destroy.

Back to removal of preservatives. Does everyone keep jams, sauces and pickles in the fridge once opened? We never did, but I do now.

Mold on cheese or bread? I cut it off. Mold on jam? I throw it away. I remember reading that the toxins filter down into the rest of the jam.

Bacterial colonies on any food and I would throw it away, and I once found fly eggs on sausages just bought from the butchers.:eek: DH put them under the grill and I only noticed because I took over when he went to get the children. I wasn't tempted to go for the extra protein.

I suppose I shouldn't speak too soon, but we don't get food poisoning, I think our immune systems have built up a tolerance. DS had salmonella when he was two, got it from the childminder who was a symptomless carrier, caused environmental health department a lot of work.

Will have to record the programme too as I think it clashes with the Roses Twenty20.

Zzzzz

calleyw

catnap53 wrote: »

Mold on bread? I cut it off.

Interesting as I was once read something by someone who was a biologist that you should not do that because of the way bread is that once it has mould in it the spores are already all the way through it.

Yours

Calley

BigMummaF

I'm holding up a very strong blast shield here cuz I'm going to defend the actions of supermarkets *ducks quickly to miss incoming eggs & toms *

A lot of apparent 'senseless' food wastage is caused by customers themselves, who pick up something from the chilled section, then change their minds halfway round the store to leave it on a shelf or in a freezer.
Obviously, the staff who find said item have no idea of how long that item has been out of refridgeration, or if the item is frozen now cannot be sold on to an unsuspecting public. Ditto the frozen stuff--I found a thawing leg of lamb BEHIND packs of dry cat food, cuz it was close to the c/o I guess--that then goes on to contaminate other products.
People cannot resist opening things for a sniff to see if they would eat the contents but obviously the seal has been compromised---saw a baby having a taste test of several jars before mum picked up new jars & left others on the shelf:eek:
Dented tins had to be dumped if the damage was over a certain size or within 15mm of the seals as contamination was more likely.

While a good many supermarkets do support charities with donations of "usable" foodstuffs, there are 4x more who cannot due to restrictions imposed by the charities themselves--ie; can only accept donations once a week etc, which would cause H&S implications for the storage of any possible goods.

In these days of compensation claims, can you really blame the stores for being ultra careful? And if you think about it we ALL want to buy the fresh stuff when we pay full price, so really the dates are there as an indication of how long the product has been on the supermarket shelf, rather than an "eat me before midnight or you'll suffer the Revenge of the Trots".

geri1965_2

I would never eat stuff past it's "use by" date - it's there for a reason, and that reason is because they are perishable goods that can become dangerous after a short space of time - meat, fish, mayonnaise etc. It's better to be safe than sorry. Although, this situation doesn't really arise for me as it generally gets eaten in time and we very rarely chuck food away.

Just because other people have eaten them and haven't got ill doesn't mean that you won't and if this bloke on the programme eats it and doesn't get ill, good for him - I am not going to follow suit though.

Best before dates I am not so bothered about, I have herbs and spices in my cupboard that are years out of date! Admittedly they are past their best but I'm still happy enough to use them (although my OH did chuck out some ginger that was best before 1997!)

calleyw

geri1965 wrote: »

Just because other people have eaten them and haven't got ill doesn't mean that you won't and if this bloke on the programme eats it and doesn't get ill, good for him - I am not going to follow suit though.

If you read the article from the daily mail a woman at the FSA told him he should not promote eating out of date food.

But he does clearly state that children, the old, any one who is pregnant or the sick should not eat out of date food. My husband has surpressed immune system so do don't chance it with him.

But I often buy meat and bread on the use by date and freeze no problems.

Yours

Calley

Scarlett25

I wouldn't have any problems freezing the bread but sometimes I've seen reduced meat at Tescos that looks decidedly iffy! It isn't red or pink coloured but greyish :eek:

Marks and Spencers say they're reducing prices of out of display-life food items which should cut down stores food waste by 10%. They're also trialing the collection of food waste to generate electricity or make compost.

Charis

We can think ourselves lucky we don't live in the US
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1025567/Beware-killer-tomatoes-Fast-food-chains-link-fruit-salmonella-outbreak.html

Even the vegans aren't safe.

pinkparrott

Did any of you manage to watch this programme? was there any more info than in the article in the daily amil?

I really wanted to watch it but dh was watching the football (again :rolleyes: ) and i forgot about it.