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

I eat yoghurt that's months out of date (it's become a bit of an office joke) with no ill effects. It's milk that's *already gone off*, so I don't see how it can get any worse.

I'm more careful with cold meats (possibly because of having had food poisoning a few years ago - although the prime suspect in that case was raw chicken, don't ask). We have some chorizo in our fridge which has been out of the cellophane for a few weeks, and when DH cut off the end (as you would with a cucumber) and then added slices to our paella, I very carefully (and discreetly) picked them out. But everybody else tucked in, and nobody was ill.

Mol

hang. on...
*going back a few posts*

Branston pickle has a use by/best before date? Seriously? I think my Father's had the same giant jar in the cupboard for... well I'm 36 and I can't remember the jar having changed in my lifetime

I did throw out a jar of gerkins err pickle cucumber gherkins things, the other day... partly becuase they'd been in the fridge and open, for several years, but mainly because they just tasted err tasteless from when they were new anyhow Needless to say I've not ever checked a use by or best before date, in many years Never really had food poisening either as far as I can recall

I had a painful stomach after eating a meal. The next day I checked the fridge and the Marks & Spencer's Berry Compote that I had opened the previous day and half eaten, was bubbling away under its own bio-energy. It was well within the sell-by-date. Marks & Spencer's is supposed to give us high kwality food but I found otherwise.

Chorizo 24 hours on and still fine.

PP.

If a can shows any sign whatsoever of bulging, never eat from it! It could be a sign of botulism, which is a particularly nasty way to die.

You don't want to eat Eeyore. The cotton stuffing would be hard to digest.

Branston pickle seems to mature after a few years like a fine wine

<BB<

I am pleased to see you are still doing fine PP

Thank you Peanut.

I am still here and think that we can now conclude that 7 month out of date donkey chorizo is perfectly safe to eat.

This time.

PP.

Although I said earlier that chorizo is aged for months and months anyway (and the same goes for things like cheese), I wouldn't set too much store by the fact. In all probability we'll be storing them at home in conditions very different from those they're aged under. So I wouldn't be *too* cavalier about it.

I think I can honestly say that about 90% of what I eat is past its date, ready access to reduced-to-clear food being one of the few 'perks' of my miserably-rewarded employment. That's been the case for nearly 20 years and I've never had the slightest hint of related illness. I have to admit that I may be more resistant than some to the odd tummy bug, having been brought up on unpasteurised milk and untreated (but filtered) water, but in most cases a little bit of common sense is all that is required when using out-of-code food.

I was going to go into some specifics, but a quick search found this interesting and informative article from a couple of years back, the printed original of which graced our canteen wall for a few weeks at the time:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/best-before-and-use-by-dates-could-be-scrapped-123342

Yes, it's always worth reminding folk that *all* 'best before' or 'sell by', or 'display until' dates can be safely ignored, even meat. These are retail tools for stock rotation purposes and perhaps minor visual and texture related issues. Only 'use by' matters. But even then I use my nose, eyes and tongue to make the final decision.

On that note, (gnomon), if you're actually automatically throwing food out the day before *best before* dates, without even checking it, you really are chucking out perfectly good food, which to be honest is something of a crime in my book.

No, I check it before throwing it out. But the slightly off smell and the slightly green colour, combined with the nearly at the best before date, are usually enough to persuade.

I'm almost a vegetarian anyway.

It depends on how it is stored. I like smoked ham, but I wouldn't like slices of bacon that fell down the back of a bookcase and emerged covered in dust and nail-clippings.

It's cute that centuries after the microscope was invented, people still say "I can't see anything wrong with it..."

Rinse it under the tap. It'll be fine.

Very often, cooking will kill off bacteria won't it. It may TASTE funny of course.

Toxins. Now they are a different matter. I am always a bit wary of cooked rice gone cold.

PP.

The stomach is also fairly good at killing off bacteria. Humans can often tell when food is off ... they seem to have evolved a sense of "bad smell".

You have to be very careful of anything which is in tiny pieces, such as minced beef (ground beef) or rice. These have a very large surface area, so much more room for bad things to grow. I'm very wary of cooked rice if it's been left around for a while.

Rice is something that I don't take risks with, as a bacterium present in it, Bacillus cereus, is spore-forming - in other words it responds to cooking by forming a shell and becoming dormant. If the rice isn't properly cooked (and this seems to be the trendy way of preparing it in this country these days) the spores survive and if it is then left to cool the bacteria become active again. Careless reheating is particularly dangerous, just perking up the little beggars nicely and encouraging them to go forth and multiply. That's why the illness caused is sometimes known as 'fried rice syndrome'.

In summary, avoid the risotto.

what do you mean "it's the trendy way?"

most are very very well aware of the risks posed by reheated rice (and botulism in tins). As far as I know it's not allowed to reheat food