To eat or not to eat?

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Posted at 3:45PM, 31 December 2007 by Caroline Hire - editor, bbcgoodfood.com

When it comes to use-by dates, it seems we all have very different ideas about how long it's safe and acceptable to keep eating the food in our fridges. Let's take, for example, my mum. If a packet of ham is within a whisper of a use-by date, it's in the bin faster than I can reach for a pot of mustard and two slices of bread.

Furthermore, in her house, everything that belongs in the cupboard seems to live in the fridge and everything that really could remain in the fridge finds its way to the freezer.

Conversely, she'll happily cultivate a drawer full of moulding, long-after-their-best vegetables. A habit I had always suspected was her vegetal picture of Dorian Gray in an otherwise pristine existence...

But perhaps not - according to a recent survey by our good selves, 63% of Brits aren't going to let a little sell-by date stop them from chowing down on their veg. A boyfriend's mum once wisely pointed out that 'they don't have a sell-by date in the field.'

And it's not just veg, 57% will eat bread - although hopefully not this bread. Cheese comes in at 52% but then who doesn't like that a little high?

Least popular item on the list for consumption passed it's best is fish (6%), followed by poultry (9%) and then other meat (16%)... I have to agree, bread, cheese and even milk are one thing, a sniff and a good look will usually let you know where you are with them but fish that smells like it's about to open the fridge door itself and make a break for it? No thanks.

Labelling can be confusing though, with all this sell by, use by, best before business. Jonathan from Wasted Food reckons 'it won't kill you to scoop out the mouldy bit from a jar of tomato sauce and use the rest'. Well I'm not sure about that but he does have some interesting points to make on the matter.

It would be interesting to hear your ideas about the 'ok to eat' issue and particularly if some dodgy family practices have surfaced over the festive season. Ultimately though, whether you mind scraping a bit of crust off your cheese or not, the FSA offers a definitive guide.

Comments

Taz

1 January, 6:54PM
Taz

It's so easy to waste food by throwing it out as soon as it's on the use by date. I always take these dates merely as a guide, and if the old sniff test tells me nothing is wrong with the food, then I always use it.

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BB+BuB

2 January, 10:03AM
BB+BuB

I have to say that I always go by the 'use by date'. I do alot of baking and use alot of chocolate in the process. If I dont use all the chocolate in the recipe I place the odd bits in plastic zip bags and use them in another recipe. I also tear off the 'use by date' for the chocolate and place this in the bag so I know when the chocolate goes off. This saves alot of time and money.

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yummy

2 January, 5:33PM
yummy

We waste an awful amount of food in this country but as someone that used to be a sniff tester i've converted to checking the sell-by dates more now after a number of food poisoning incidents (mostly restaurants) and food sensitisation this year. I think if you have a sensitive stomach you need to be more careful but what doesn't kill you is probably good for your immune system!

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foodtodo

2 January, 7:28PM
foodtodo

I believe that food past the sell by date is a reasonable and positive challenge for the immune system unless it is fungal, stinks or crawls and is not cheese or scandinavian buried fish

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mellywelly

2 January, 11:03PM
mellywelly

As a cook in a nursery school I should be expected to throw my hands up in horror at the very thought of using something past it's date but as a cook at home I don't!! As a general rule it is worth noting the difference between use-by and best before dates. Most foodstuffs likely to give you food poisoning have a use by date and personally I wouldn't use them after this date. It is also important to ensure that your fridge is running at the right temperature- between 0 and 8 degrees centigrade. My only funny habit is when it comes to milk- I often have to get someone else to sniff it because I am so paranoid!! I'm sure this stems from being made to drink it at school as a child- in the winter it used to come partially frozen and the teachers used to put it on the radiators to thaw- resulting in sourness!! somebody please tell me I'm not the only one!!!

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ginny

3 January, 8:36AM
ginny

I'm the same with milk, after a rather horrible experience with sour milk, if I think an opened bottle is off, it doesnt even get the smell test, it's down the sink! Fortunately I'm not like that with everything and can quite happily remove bits of mould from things I really want to eat!

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sarah's den

3 January, 11:52AM
sarah's den

What happened before we had "sell by dates"? I wonder,and we all surived . I'm a pre war baby when food was not that easy come by.

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Deborah

5 January, 11:06AM
Deborah

Does chocolate go off? Can anyone keep it that long!!

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Rayne

5 January, 4:07PM
Rayne

I never use use-by dates, I will always look at something or smell it and determine myself whether it is off or not. Haven't had food poisoning yet!

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ang

5 January, 4:29PM
ang

I too remember the disgusting school milk - I cannot drink milk now, 40 yrs later! On the subject of use-by and sell-by dates, remember a few facts: years ago food was locally produced and usually bought daily, rather than processed and bought weekly (or even fortnightly). Food can contain harmful bacteria or toxins and still look or smell ok - the bacteria that cause food to spoil are not the same ones that cause illness, although they often co-exist.

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Naomibrook

5 January, 7:08PM
Naomibrook

Milk is a definite use-by-date substance. there's nothing worse that it curdling in your tea. and the dates on them are usually fairly accurate. When it comes to fruit and veg, i have some housemates who have occassionaly thrown these things away when they are even one day past they use by date, when they still look perfectly fine! however my mum, over christmas, had some apple puree in the fridge, which, a week after making, she was going to happily eat. I thought this was going a bit far...

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Barney

10 January, 8:48AM
Barney

I can't work out why a tub of houmous from my local deli has a shelf life of over two weeks yet a tub from the supermarket has a life of a couple of days, anyone?

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mellywelly

10 January, 2:07PM
mellywelly

In answer to the houmous question, the one at the deli is probably made in smaller batches locally and is fresher when it hits the shelf. Who knows where the supermarket one has travelled from and, for that matter how long it sits in the warehouse before becoming available for sale!

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victoria132

13 January, 12:37PM
victoria132

I am of the sniff and taste persuasion. I found a small carton of milk in my fridge, it was 10 days past it's date, and yet it smelled fine, and did not curdle. If it had been off, the dog would have got it. No food goes to waste in this house! I think that this sell by date business had gone just too far. I have a carton of ruby grapefruit juice in my fridge, the sell by date is 12.10.08, and underneath the date it saays: "Time 02.50" Just how daft can you get!

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Catwitch

13 January, 6:56PM
Catwitch

I think the whole use-by date thing becomes more pertinent in certain circumstances where you have to err on the side of caution - ie. pregnant women, old people and children and those with compromised immune systems (cancer etc). Anyone in any of those categories would be mad to eat anything past its use-by date as it could be fatal.

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Nic's Recipe

21 January, 4:52PM
Nic's Recipe

Generally i'm a sniff it and see person, especially now I have just moved out of home and have less money! And cheese I will eat until it crawls out the door. I agree this use by date thing has gone too far! I also have a question about freezing which kind of relates to this...why does everything say freeze on day of purchase? surely it will sit in the supermarket for a couple of days or more after I buy it and then someone else will come and pick it up and freeze it however days later? so does freeze on day of purchase really mean that?!

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yum

6 March, 2:08PM
yum

Use by dates is how supermarkets/food companies protect them selves. They have to give consumers a guideline of how long you can store food for. Imagine how many people would complain of food poisoning if food products did not have use by date? It would be an open market for lawsuits!

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Caty B

8 October, 10:06PM
Caty B

Share views with Mellywelly, The children I care for at work (preschool) would never get out of date stuff but with my own children, 'sniff it first' has worked for the last 10 years! I do think the press have a lot to answer for with regard to scaremongering but as Catwitch says, you'd be mad not to take note if you are in a high risk group. I just happen to believe that children are tougher than they're given credit for.

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