Gone past expiry?

[Nebulous]

Do you ever eat food that has gone past the eat-by / expiry date?

Ever gotten sick from that or were you fine every time?

How long past the expiry date would you eat food?

 

[EvilResource]

I generally wouldn't risk it with certain items like meat, although a quick sniff test is always worth doing, sometimes things go off before the listed use by date. But overall I think the dates on items are overly cautious, and in reality things are perfectly fine a few days after the so called "deadline". Milk is a good example, I've had bottles of milk that are a week over their use by date and it's not cheesy in the slightest.

You also have best before dates which, as the name implies, is perfectly fine after this date but it may not taste as fresh.

 

[thesaunderschiId]

'Use by' or 'Best Before' - because those are two very different things? Also very different for foods that are going to be cooked versus eaten raw.

a quick sniff test is always worth doing,

You need to be wary of the sniff test; apart from things like pasteurised milk, where spoilage has a very distinctive smell (thanks to the Lactobacillales) you can't really rely on it. (Do you know what botulism smells like?); Common sources of food poisoning like cold meats, salads, and deserts can have high levels of contamination and smell just fine. Also, if you must do it, do it indirectly by wafting - sticking your nose into something you think might be contaminated and sucking it up into your sinuses is a bad idea.

 

[jamesyfx]

I tend to just use stuff until I can visibly see (or small) a problem with it. Unless it has a use by date, then I'll throw it regardless.