Sell By Dates

[Deleted]

No, it is utterly ridiculous. A ploy to make people buy more.If you want to know if something is still good to eat, sniff it.
My daughter goes through her refrigerator at the end of every month and throws away anything that expires at midnight.
Even cans which are normally good up to twenty years.

A 'Best before', maybe but is entirely a matter of taste.

[deyana]

I don't use anything that is past it's sell by date. Many people have told me it's fine to go ahead and use it, that they alway have, but I just can't. I'm sure the food is still good in most cases however.

[rattler]

Sept 19, 2010 16:24:52 GMT -5 deyana said:

I don't use anything that is past it's sell by date. Many people have told me it's fine to go ahead and use it, that they alway have, but I just can't. I'm sure the food is still good in most cases however.

Heee, Hee! ROFL!

Industry making big bucks on you then... My profound belief is that (as almost everything, really) this has not been introduced to really *protect* customers but to allow for guaranteed turnover for industry, else why would e.g. my coffee, tea or even my cooked in marmelade have a "sell by" date (when they all easily last decades?).

I let myself be guided by vision, smell and taste (and common sense about how stuff is conserved and how long it lasts conserved, e.g. treating fish, meat etc different from cereals or yoghurts) guide me to decide what I try to eat and what not, havent failed yet.

Rattler

[deyana]

Well, it may also be that it's not me I'm thinking off, but my kids. I like to give them as fresh produce as possible. If it was just me, I wouldn't bother so much.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2010 18:52:04 GMT -5 deyana said:

I like to give them as fresh produce as possible. If it was just me, I wouldn't bother so much.

As in farm picked fresh ? It is off late, that I have begun to visit the farmers market more often than in the past. Canned stuff, the sell by date I just ignore. Most canned stuff I have are items that are not available in Manhattan.

[deyana]

Farmers market, nycank? Do they have many of those in NYC? I love markets, and fresh produce. We don't get many around here, at least that I know of. But there are quite a few farmers fruit/vegetable stalls positioned at various points. As well as fish/lobsters that are told directly from stalls.

Tin stuff I'm not too worried about. It's unusual to come across tinned food that has gone off.

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2010 9:16:16 GMT -5 deyana said:

Farmers market, nycank? Do they have many of those in NYC? I love markets, and fresh produce. We don't get many around here, at least that I know of. But there are quite a few farmers fruit/vegetable stalls positioned at various points. As well as fish/lobsters that are told directly from stalls.

Lots of them in Manhattan - www.grownyc.org/ourmarkets

[queenfreaky]

I wont use meat that has gone past its sell by date but its just a precaution really and my hubby thinks Im daft. He says as long as its not been 'opened' and has been refrigerated its ok.

[rattler]

Sept 25, 2010 9:16:16 GMT -5 deyana said:

-snip- Tin stuff I'm not too worried about. It's unusual to come across tinned food that has gone off.

Yet it is exactly the canned stuff that has the highest risk of really dying a painful death through a poisoning (see below), all other food poisonings are a nuisance but rarely fatal (except maybe salmonella infection with older or really young folks).

Sept 26, 2010 4:37:10 GMT -5 @queenfreaky said:

I wont use meat that has gone past its sell by date but its just a precaution really and my hubby thinks Im daft. He says as long as its not been 'opened' and has been refrigerated its ok.

I am usually quite liberal with stuff gone by the "obliteration recommended before" date, but with meat (and fish) I tend to at least be thinking twice, as the consequences might be really heavy (for not to say potentially fatal) when you do something wrong there.

Here my takes:

- Minced meat, fresh (and I never buy it already choppped up, too many crooks out there in the butcheries that re-ettiquette yesterday for toda, so I want to see the piece(s) it is made of): Eat raw (I usually buy it for tartar) or process (cook/fry) the same day you bought it and dont interrupt the cooling chain: As the surface of the meat is multiplied 10.000-fold when it is chopped to so small pieces, also the attack opportunities for all the bacteria around is multiplied by the same factor, and a few hours out of the fridge make it dangerous (not fatally, though disenteria prone) to consume it w/o frying/cooking)

- normal meat from the super-market: Deep freeze or eat/process before the recommended date, after the date you start running risks (mostly because you cannot trust the date: Every person I have talked to who worked in a super market butchery so far has told me that re-posting the date - prolonging the recommended time shown - is something that is not unusual to see happening even if here in Europe it is totally illegal).

- vacuum sealed meat: If it is beef or lamb, you dont run a risk: Eye and nose will tell you when it has gone bad, as long as it looks good and smells ok you can use it w/o fears. Pork, use it when recommended. If you kept the vacuum sealed meat in the fridge you will find this might last much longer w/o any probs. For the same serious risk of a fatal botulinus intoxication as comes from canned food, though,never eat raw and heat above 90 degrees centigrate.

- Meat from the freezer: As long as the chain has not been broken and it is at/below -18 degrees centigrate (at this temperature nothing will change the proteins), you can virtually keep it forever. The only nuisance you might find is from freezeer burn (where oxygen touched it) or that it goes fairly tasteless, both are just problems to the taste and not in any way a health risk. If your freezer only does -12 degrees centigrate, I would suggest you dont overstep the generally recommended times too long: Pork should only be kept for a maximum of 60 days. If you are not planning on using it within this specified time, you should not keep it. Beef can be frozen for up to a year if wrapped properly and your freezer maintains the temperature mentioned previously. Never freeze canned meat, and dont refreeze once thawed (no health risk, really, but it goes absolutely tasteless).

-Canned meat (and also especially canned vegetables): Here I follow the recommended times strictly, and even within the dates observe tightly the state the can shows: If it only shows the least inflation, throw it away, you run the potential risk of a fatal posising with Botulinus toxines(1/3 fatal if treated immidiately, 90% fatal if treated delayed), this, while rare, is SERIOUS:

It is most commonly caused by a nerve poison produced by the bacteria in sealed food containers with little air inside (like our mentioned canned meat and also with canned vegetables), it is one of the most potent poisons known. It causes blurred or double vision, weakness, difficulty in swallowing and breathing and, if untreated, paralysis, unconsciousness and death. The symptoms appear with 18-36 hours of eating the poison and should be treated promptly with a botulin anti-toxin.

Botulinus is destroyed by heating food to 90°C for at least 15 minutes but the bacterial spores survive this processing and higher temperatures are required to destroy them (and they can become actiuve with the same consequence in your intestines). Other common sources are canned fish and fermented fish products.

- Fish storage: Fresh fish, if you keep it at between 1-2 degrees Centigrate (34-36F), will be safe to eat for about 2 days (but it will lose a lot of taste fast) if you follow those general rules: Remove it from the store wrapping and wipe the surface with a damp cloth to remove any debris, and if they fish is whole, you might want to wash it with cool water and then pat it dry. It should be wrapped in wax paper and then placed in a container that has a air tight-fitting lid. If you know you wont eat the fish within those two days, better to deep freeze it at once (preserves a lot of taste), for -12 centigrate follow the open recommended dates, at -18 and below you can keep it literally forever.

In general, if you make sure your food reaches 70 degrees Centigrade for over 20 minutes, you are safe by anything but botulinus from canned foods.

FWIW,

Rattler

[queenfreaky]

thanks for that info Im never quite sure with regards to different meat products (and fish)

[deyana]

Thanks for the info. Rattler. We learnt a lot of what you say during my two year cookery and nutrition course. But it's good to be reminded of it again.