Use by dates?

[QuakerBear]

I don't usually pay any attention to 'use by' dates on supermarket food. If it smells and feels okay, it is okay.

In the last couple of weeks I'd had to forgo my usual local, family, incredibly expert (can't praise the old chaps enough) butchers and I've bought some chicken from a supermarket, twice.

Each time I've opened the vast amounts of packaging and the meat has been reaking. I mean awful, making me wretch and once with green slimey stuff on! Yet it's still very much 'in date'. I don't store the meat in a silly way prior to use either.

So, how do supermarkets decide what this enigmatic date past which food will be unsafe is?

[Silver Ether]

Gods only know... did you take it back... I have found this with fish so never buy their stuff ... unless you count M+S thats the only fish my fella will eat..

But I will say that bread that gets returned to the bakery quite often gets put in the freezer then it rebagged and dated ... so theres nothing stopping them doing the same with other products ...

ooooooh yak just remembered that programme when fish and meat were "cleaned" up in T***o ... remember it when a reporter went under cover to chesck on their hygiene

[QuakerBear]

Feeling nausious now.

[Russian Doll]

i used to work for tescos and mc donalds and i used to see how they dealt with use by stuff and frsh fish..as for mc donalds dont get me started...i wont eat at a mc donalds...but all i will say is if you do dont ever be rude or ask for extras from the assisstants

[Annpan]

I also used to work in McD and never found it as bad as the urban myths say.

I would never eat there though because, the food tastes discusting... well... I say 'food' it is really just cardboard. I can't even begin to imagine the lifes that the cows and chickes have, before they become a McMeal... And there is potatoes in the milkshakes (thats the thickener) Infact I was told that the milkshakes are the thing most likely to give you food poisoning eeeuuugghh, I feel sick

As for you supermarket chicken, I'd defo take them back (some supermarkets give a replacement + money back) and you shouldn't accept that standard of food.

I don't know what the rules are for bb dates. I'd only use something on the day of purchase, or freeze it, then use it on the day I defrost it.

[Karen_D]

As Silver Ether said, there was a programme about supermarkets "recycling" meat after it had gone past its sell-by date

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6676345.stm

It might not be that but if it obviously is off, take it back and get a refund.

[QuakerBear]

I think I saw some of the documentry about meat re-use on deli counters. I'm glad I don't get their stuff.

I didn't take either pack of chicken back becuase the smell was too strong. It just had to be disposed of outside, in the bin block at the end of the car park, as fast as possible. To carry it back to the supermarket and then re-open the packaging would have been too much.

Now that I've experianced this twice I'm going to stick to the butchers I know. We only eat meat about twice a week as it is but if it's a choice between bhujia (vegtable curry with choliflower and okra and anything else in the veg box) and supermarket meat, I think it'll be the bhujia.

Still like to know the magical formula which generates these dates though...

[Stonehead]

I don't usually pay any attention to 'use by' dates on supermarket food. If it smells and feels okay, it is okay.

On that basis, I'm well past mine!

More seriously, have a look at these:

Marks & Spencer

Morrison's deli counter
And background to the Morrisons' one


T***o & rats


T***o and out-of-date food

Waitrose and independent shops

Somerfield

And more details on the Somerfield one.

Kwiksave

ASDA


I couldn't get the link to work, but this is from This is London:

T***o has been fined £25,000 after one of its flagship stores was found to be infested with mice and selling mouldy food.
The fine, one of the biggest ever handed out for breaches of food safety rules, will come as a huge embarrassment to Britain's biggest supermarket chain.
The store at New Malden in south-west London, one of T***o's biggest, was taken to court by council inspectors following a series of customer complaints. Details emerged today of an extraordinary litany of failures at the 10-year-old superstore. The company was fined:
£5,000 for selling a mouldy apple turnover seven days past its sell-by date.
£2,000 for selling Gouda cheese past its sell-by date.
£4,000 for selling mouldy Thai rice.
£2,000 each for failing to store Clipper coffee and cereals "in a hygienic manner". Rodents had nibbled packaging.
£5,000 for failing to keep rodents out of food storage areas. Merton council officials found "rodent faeces and food... gnawed by rodents and the existence of food and water sources within easy reach of rodents". The failings had not been put right a month later despite warnings.
£5,000 for not keeping fridge cabinets at the right temperature and for not logging customer complaints adequately.
The fine for breaches of the Food Safety Act, food safety regulations and food labelling regulations was handed down at Wimbledon magistrates court last week. The company was fined £25,000 in total and ordered to pay council legal costs of £5,550.

But if you think the major supermarkets are bad, then read the litany of problems found in small, independent supermarkets and catering companies. Ugh!

I think you have to be very observant wherever you shop and if you're not happy with what you see, make your feelings known and shop elsewhere.

[baldowrie]

you said it!

[QuakerBear]

Oh, don't talk about bodies feeling okay.

I got into a right mess yesterday. I didn't know 'plums' was slang for part of the male anatomy. I offered my workmates (very blokey men) a feel of my plums as they were lovely and ripe, and I'd be happy to share.

They soon set me right.

Got very embaressed.

[baldowrie]

oh dear

I worked in a 100% male environment when I first went work and it was either grab the brown paper paper containing the p o rno mag and read it in front of them or get the bleep take out of you!

They got very embarrassed when I said things like, 'cor blimey those tits' are bit big!' Or 'shes and biggggggggggg girl!'

Yep they shut up and stopped ribbing me pretty smartly

just to add nope I wasn't enjoying the mags



(Edited by MMM because the 'P' word sets off the spam filter!)

[Stonehead]

They got very embarrassed when I said things like, 'cor blimey those tits' are bit big!' Or 'shes and biggggggggggg girl!'

An ambulance EMT I once knew made the point very well by flicking through one of her male colleague's magazines and then commenting that she now understood the blokes very well.

When one obligingly asked what she meant, she said they were obviously missing their mums as they couldn't have been properly weaned!

[Thomzo]

Going back to the original thread. Sell by, best before and use by dates have different meanings.

The sell by date is a guide for the store. It assumes the buyer will keep the product for a period of time before using.

Best before is a guide for product that might lose texture or taste but won't necessarily hurt you if it goes beyond that date. Tends to be used on tinned or frozen food. They will lose their texture and flavour over time but, as long as they are kept properly, the bacteria levels won't ever get high enough to hurt you.

Use by means that you shouldn't eat the food after that date as the bacteria will have multiplied enough that they can hurt you.

All food contains bacteria that is potentially harmful (eg. salmonella). Just cooked food will (or should) only contain tiny amounts that won't do you any harm. Over time it will multiply until it does reach amounts that could hurt you. The food manufacturer carries out tests to determine how long that will take. That is how they work out their use by dates. The supermarkets do actually do random tests on products to ensure that the "bug counts" don't exceed the acceptable leves by the dates specified.

Cheers
Zoe

[hamster]

And there is potatoes in the milkshakes (thats the thickener)

Probably more than is in the chips...

[Thomzo]

Infact I was told that the milkshakes are the thing most likely to give you food poisoning eeeuuugghh, I feel sick

It's the icecream that causes food poisoning. As it warms the bacteria start to multiply rapidly. If it defrosts and then gets frozen again it can be pretty lethal. Never keep ice cream out of the freezer longer than you have to. If it defrosts accidentally, don't try to refreeze it.

That's why you should avoid eating ice cream from street vendors in hot climates. The ice-cream won't be cold enough.

Zoe