h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just a yes or no is fine.

Yes, if it looks and smells perfectly ok. I presume it has been kept refrigerated, and you are going to cook it thoroughly.

Was it a 'sell by', 'best before', or 'use by' date? The only one that really matters is 'use by' and even then there's still a bit of margin built in.

As mentioned, if it looks fresh, smells fresh, then it probably is fresh.

Just to be pedantic, there's no real risk in *cooking* it - it's just the eating bit that could be dodgy.

Okay it's the use by date.

And yes it's been in the fridge..and if I dare cook thing it will be barbarcued within an inch of its life.

I´m rather paranoid about chicken, and getting it cooked properly. However I´m curious to see what happens, so I say go for it.

Yep I'm going for it. Shall report back later. dead or alive

No. But I'd happily feed it to the dogs who have stomachs designed for disgusting food.

Are you a bit touched?

Why the stupid assumption it's disgusting? If I knew it was disgusting there would be no point in asking this question.

It's just finished cooking and looks and smells delish..it's free range. Shall have with a pile of curly Kale which I'm growing in the garden this year. I'm absolutely confident it's fine.

(Mina we are reminded at every opportunity by you about dogs. Not every subject has to be turned into a connection with mutts.)

No - you have no comeback if you get poisoned.

Er, why the personal attack? Are you a rude person normally? Are you mentally unstable? Are YOU stupid? I don't care if you don't care for dogs. I like them, and unless you are the h2g2 subject/topic police I'll talk about them as I wish.

Dogs DO have stomachs designed for disgusting food. I didn't say the CHICKEN was disgusting. Although frankly if you want to eat old chicken instead of paying for something fresh that kind of says it all about the sort of person you are.

I see we have a SECOND candidate for the IGNORE function if it ever happens. Amazing, one person has held the spot alone for a very long time, now you've just joined it, for being rude to someone you don't know, for no reason I can see.

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Well, something might 'comeback' if she gets poisoned.

Do we actually need to rely on blaming someone else in this situation though? Surely common-sense dictates that you'll only eat it if you are truely satisfied it is safe to do so? Years ago we didn't need rules and regulations to tell us what was (or was not) safe to do.

Now, billions of £'s per year of wasted food go into land-fill because people are paranoid about it being *one* day past its official consumption date.

If it's green and it stinks, then it's obviously time for the bin.

If it's pink and still fragrant, then it needs roasting.

If they go to the trouble of putting a 'use by' date on the chicken, then I'd prefer to trust that.

If you suspect the dates are false, then show me the evidence and you may persuade me to eat the thing.

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I certainly don't suspect the dates are false, but I do believe that a 'margin' is built in in-order to over come a lot of external factors such as differences in refrigeration temperatures, storage facilities, delays in transporting from shop to home etc.

No major chicken-producer would want a mass-epidemic of poisonings one day after its chickens passed their use-by date. Just because we are *told* to use it by that recommended date does not automatically mean it will be a killer one day after.

Tasted great.

>, why the personal attack? Are you a rude person normally? Are you mentally unstable? Are YOU stupid?<

I could never imagine posting something so insensitively dumb when someone's going to eat something.

I'm sometimes rude.

I'm sometimes mentally unstable.

No I'm not stupid.

Except I'm thinking I probably was a bit stupid to post this question as there was a chance someone would come along and post something like that.

I put food and sex in the same category of pleasure. And no doubt you'll tell me dogs are capable of having disgusting sex because of the doggie shape of their gonads

Use By dates do have a margin of error, because we're not yet clever enough to accurately predict the future.

I've known stuff still be totally fine ten days after the Use By zoomed past (the Not-Quite-Everlasting Milk. I kept going with it for science, okay?)... I've known stuff go horrifically manky waaaay before the date. I'd happily eat something the day after it's Use By had passed if it looked and smelled okay. What that says about me (and anyone else who does it, in my opinion) is that I'm not wasteful of perfectly good food. Hell, the only reasons I don't do the freegan thing are laziness and dubious legality.

Now, both of you *looks sternly at Mina and Effers* this is not worth falling out over, you are simply two different people with different approaches to life. It's silly to argue about that.

You're right Mr. D.

Handshake Mina? Sorry for flying off the handle.

The use-by date is really very necessary for people who for instance, have no sense of smell. (like my dad - but who in fact always seems to forget to read the labels) Mind you, he has lived in very good health up till now - he is nearly ninety, most of those years without refrigeration to keep food fresh, never mind date labelling.

Other issues are whether the food, in this case, the chicken, was going to be cooked. If it was a piece of pre-cooked meat that had reached the cut off date - then I would have chucked it out.

Do cats have the same ability to deal with ancient meat? There is a family of wild kittens in the courtyard here, and I have some leftover cooked pork. There is no use by date as it was sold sliced, by weight.

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So have I. Last year, a chicken I bought from a large-chain (who I shall not name for fear of injunctions or twit-face libel) was 3 days in-date and promptly refrigerated when I got home.

The next day, my wife went to cook it, but as she was feeling particularly poorly after a bout of sun-stroke, she asked me to check it.

It was off, no doubt about it . But I didn't need the labels to tell me so, or guide me to thinking that it might be OK because it was still 'in-date'.

'Over-badging' occasionally happens here. It shouldn't (because we are an EU participant), but it does.

I just use my old-fashioned skills to tell me if something is right, or in this case, very wrong.

I've done that since my parents disowned me at an early age. I'm still here at 43. Eggs, nuclear fall-out and slippery-snow haven't got me yet.

For 'disowned', please read 'dispatched'. They still love me really...