Best Before Dates on Food

[kevin b]

Check your best before dates on imported products as we have recently bought stuff from 2 different shops that cater for English people & several of the items were out of date.Some products have the bb date cruedly erased.We will of course bring this to the shops attention on our next visit[!].

[Jacqui Harvey]

Best before dates will be O.K. just go back and ask for a discount. They are not dangerous to eat.   It's the ones that say "Sell By" are the products you should return to the shop.  There are lots of Companies springing up in the U.K. selling "Best Before Products" at cut down prices, in the current economic climate these Companies are doing really well.  They get the stuff from Supermarkets and sell it on. There was a guy on T.V. last week running such a Company.   Go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/4210997/Company-selling-food-past-its-best-before-date-thrives-in-economic-crisis.html

[ukchris]

this also applies to alcohol.

My sister-in-law bought a bottle of Baileys from Dalaman Airport on the way back home and was ill for 3 weeks. It was 4 months out of date.

It took ages to work out that was the cause, as normally it's food that does the poisoning, but this time it was put down to the cream in the baileys.

[grahamturner09]

Well I don't know about you lot but I grew up in an age where if it looked alright and smelt alright it was probably alright. There is to much emphasis on sell by dates and use by dates, that is why so much food is thrown away.

[Firo]

Same here Graham.
The was a huge investigation a while ago and the conclusion was the date that really matters is the USE BY date, not the best before date.

[ukchris]

that's all well and good, but I wouldn't buy a pint of milk or a loaf that had todays date on it unless i was using it all today. Be like buying a new full price TV with 1 day warranty left on it.
The problem with dates are the supermarkets, most of there fruit and veg in the uk is nearly bad as it reaches its sell by date. Nothing like as fresh as buying from the market.

My parents had a food shop, and yes the majority of dates are only a guide. The dairy farm they used to buy cream from delivered once a week, over the xmas period they did not deliver in between xmas and new year, the farm just stamped an extra 5 days date on everything.

I used to live on 'out of date' yogurts as a kid, they only go off when the lid starts to bubble, sometimes anything up to 6 weeks after sell buy. These were from farm also, wouldn't want to try it nowadays with a tesco one.

[cheers]

I love the sell by dates on eggs!  We only used to have the little lion stamped on them.  If they are free range who knows when the chicken laid them and who knows how long it is before it goes off?  You only know when you crack them and they pong!!

[farmer]

UKChris
Who put the cause of the illness down to the cream in Baileys going off?
This would directly contradict the scientific evidence that the alcohol base of the drink preserves the cream. In fact no preservatives are used in Baileys because of this.

I suggest that if any of the contents of the bottle are still left you send it to the Public Health authorities for analysis.
Keep one sample for yourself and one for backup in case you find yourself being sued by Gilbeys ( or Diageo ) for defamation.
farmer

[Gorgeous_bird]

blimey who hasn't drunk Baileys from the back of the cupboard from 2 christmasses ago.

There is a whole movement of people who eat food from the skips at the back of supermarkets "Freegans". The food is being thrown out as it has reached it's sell by date/use by date. I watched a programme on it and the stuff that was being slung out was amazing.

You can't beat the sniff test.

[grahamturner09]

My pork joint yesterday was 7 days past it's use by date and besides the vomiting and diarrhoea no side effects whatsoever