'Sell By' & 'Use By' Dates
Discussion
Steve-o said:They are an approximation by the manufacturer as to the life of the product - that is the assured quality life. We put a 10-day life on our pies and pasties so that if you eat them within 10 days they should be as good as when they left the factory. You can still eat them after that for a while but we wouldn't assure the quality of the 'experience'.
Does anyone know who sets these dates and how they are arrived at?
Sell-by dates have been generally phased out replaced with 'display until' and 'use by' - gives the customer a definitive date.
All depends on how the product is stored. Fridge not cold enough will usually see some feckless numpty poisoning themselves eating off food simply because it was in date. They're the same people who throw out perfectly edible food the minute it goes past its use by date!
Seems to me that most of these dates are an arse covering exercise by the manufactures to stop stupid people eating rotten food and then blaming the company that supplied it for not warning them!
I always give my food a sniff before cooking it. If it looks and smells ok i'll generally dive in..... I use the same test with women and its infallible (touch wood - so to speak)
Seems to me that most of these dates are an arse covering exercise by the manufactures to stop stupid people eating rotten food and then blaming the company that supplied it for not warning them!
I always give my food a sniff before cooking it. If it looks and smells ok i'll generally dive in..... I use the same test with women and its infallible (touch wood - so to speak)
many chocolate retailers put a 12 month "consume by" notice on their products due to consumers not liking to see a 5 year shelf life.
Most solid chocolate bars will last for 10 years if stored properly (about 2 degrees C). The ones with liquid centres go manky after about 18 months due to evaporation of the filling.
Most solid chocolate bars will last for 10 years if stored properly (about 2 degrees C). The ones with liquid centres go manky after about 18 months due to evaporation of the filling.
Working for sainsburys just before and after Christmas, it was amazing how much quality stuff was reduced to silly money because it was going "out of date".
Two freezers from the local freepages later and we`re not even half way through it! I`m still here though.
P.S. It helps if you find a spare roll of "reduced" labels in the warehouse.
Two freezers from the local freepages later and we`re not even half way through it! I`m still here though.
P.S. It helps if you find a spare roll of "reduced" labels in the warehouse.
That said I have had a few bits of dodgy chicken breast from Tesco, that have gone off well before the sell by date. To be fair they have always swapped (and refunded) them without complaint in the past, but it's a bit annoying to find the last edible thing in the fridge is .. inedible!
I still remember the look of horror on my girlfriends face when clearing up after dinner she discovered we'd eaten beef mince that was, according the packaging nearly a year out of date.
It took a few attempts to explain to her that is was bought shortly before the sell-by date at a stupidly low price and then immediately thrown in the freezer.
(Tescos tends to be good for this, we've still got a freezer drawer full of mince bought at something like 20% of the normal price... Its still good!)
She didn't believe me when I repeated the story of a Moscow science institue dinner where mammoth unearthed from Siberian permafrost was served...
If it will last 10,000 years in the frost, its going to last a year in my freezer...
It took a few attempts to explain to her that is was bought shortly before the sell-by date at a stupidly low price and then immediately thrown in the freezer.
(Tescos tends to be good for this, we've still got a freezer drawer full of mince bought at something like 20% of the normal price... Its still good!)
She didn't believe me when I repeated the story of a Moscow science institue dinner where mammoth unearthed from Siberian permafrost was served...
If it will last 10,000 years in the frost, its going to last a year in my freezer...
einion yrth said:
So long as its cooked properly, you can eat rotten meat.
Not that I do, of course.you know that 'gamey' flavour of well hung pheasant or venison
IIRC originally gravadlax salmon was buried in a box with some salt & spices & left to rot for a few months.
parrot of doom said:
So long as its cooked properly, you can eat rotten meat.
Not that I do, of course.
Not true, the cause of food poisoning is most often caused by the toxins released by food spoilage microorganisms. Some of these toxins are inactivated by heat however some aren't. The John West tinned salmon was cooked and sterile yet it killed two people and made many very ill.
You're right that the cooking and the human immune syatem will make rotten food relatively safe to eat, still wouldn't like to risk it though
Been able to sh*t through the eye of a needle is not a skill i want to acquire Steve-o said:
Does anyone know who sets these dates and how they are arrived at?
Sell-by: the date by which the manufacturer needs to sell another batch to keep the money rolling in.
Use-by: the date on which neurotic, half-witted numpties throw out and waste perfectly good food.
You only need one date: Made-on. The rest is common sense.
"30%-40%" of all food bought or grown each year in the UK is thrown out, yet research has found that there are "4 million people in the UK who cannot afford a healthy diet and that one in seven people over 65 are at serious risk of malnourishment". [source - Guardian Online, April 15th 2005] Go figure. Balmoral Green said:
Camembert is best a few days either side of its use by date, I have to buy them in advance and rotate them in the fridge, as fresh off the supermarket shelf you have to wait for about four weeks. Why cant they sell mature ones ready to eat now?
I don't care how f
king runny it is, bring forth la fromage de la belle France with all haste.Balmoral Green said:
bring forth la fromage de la belle France with all haste.
Off topic, have you tried crispy smoked bacon & Roquefort cheese stuffed into a baguette? Intense!
Given that roquefort is one of my favourite cheeses, and bacon is the major reason I could never become a vegetarian, I think I may just have to try that.
Plotloss said:
You know when you go to a supermarket and there is broccoli in shrink wrap and loose broccoli?
The loose is the out of date shrink wrap.
Pay little attention to the dates and go by the look/smell.
Is that true? Because I tend to like buying stuff that isn't in plastic!
I wish my local Butcher sold Broccoli.
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