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Original poster

HELP! Can I eat pork sausages one day past their use-by date?

105 replies

FootballOn · 16/09/2026 16:40

Would you eat a pack of pork sausages one day past the use by date? Have been kept in the fridge the whole time. Don’t smell weird. Getting paranoid - would you risk it or not???? Speedy responses appreciated as currently cooking them but wondering whether to bin them and start again with something else
thanks!

OP posts:
11AndCounting · 16/09/2026 19:40

HowardTJMoon · 16/09/2026 18:20

For you, maybe. For others they're not the same at all. Isn't subjective morality fascinating?

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I mean, one's obviously more culturally normal in the UK than the other, but what coherent argument for a moral distinction is there?

(I don't eat either, but wouldn't be troubled by something being mere hours beyond a use-by).

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 16/09/2026 20:07

DreamyRedNewt · 16/09/2026 18:20

No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't mind with other things but definitwly not with meat or fish. I don't even eat it on its last day.

What a lot of food you must waste.

HowardTJMoon · 16/09/2026 20:10

11AndCounting · 16/09/2026 19:40

I mean, one's obviously more culturally normal in the UK than the other, but what coherent argument for a moral distinction is there?

(I don't eat either, but wouldn't be troubled by something being mere hours beyond a use-by).

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Humans domesticated dogs at least 10,000 years ago and we've had a relationship with them so close to be pretty much symbiotic for millennia. We have selectively bred them for countless generations to enhance their ability to live alongside us to the point that many breeds have distinct and highly mobile eyebrows to increase their ability to emote in a way recognisable to humans.

By contrast, pigs can be turned in to bacon. QED.

DreamyRedNewt · 16/09/2026 21:40

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 16/09/2026 20:07

What a lot of food you must waste.

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Not really. I definitely don't waste any meat or fish as it is expensive. I just buy it to comsume pretty much on the day or the day after. If I cannot eat it, then I freeze it.

Mouldemort · 16/09/2026 21:49

Trust your nose.

TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum · 16/09/2026 22:24

Totally fine.

pinkishtongue · 16/09/2026 22:40

They won’t have grown mould one day past the “use by” date. I’m sure manufacturers are playing it safe anyway.

EmeraldShamrock000 · 16/09/2026 22:43

I wouldn’t. I am strange about food. Sausages smell bad quickly so I’d say they’re fine if there is no smell.

Stickykidney · 16/09/2026 22:51

Am about to eat bacon tomorrow that has been out the fridge two days (camping) but am convincing self cos it's smoked it will be ok!

Viviennemary · 16/09/2026 22:55

Absolutely not. This type of food can cause serious food poisoning. Not worth it.

canklesmctacotits · 16/09/2026 22:55

beanstoastie · 16/09/2026 16:48

I once found a chicken casserole ready meal in the freezer. Cooked and ate it then while sorting out box for recycling noticed it was 18 months out of date. I'm still alive, no ill effects at all. And I've also eaten sausages a week past the date!!

It was in the freezer, 18 days or 18 months makes no difference Confused

Astra53 · 16/09/2026 22:59

Yep. Perfectly fine to eat.

HexInductionHour · 16/09/2026 23:03

evaevaeva · 16/09/2026 19:37

They’ll be fine.

The open bottle of milk in our fridge is 4 days “out of date”, but my motto is that if you have to sniff the milk more than once to determine whether it’s gone off, it’s not gone off.

Ooos sorry I replied to wrong post

HexInductionHour · 16/09/2026 23:04

Bogstandardname · 16/09/2026 18:36

Coop near us selling out of date milk the other day. Just met with shrug from staff when I pointed it out. Nothing to do with sausages 😀 . Hope you enjoy them.

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submit a quick email to their customer services they really are helpful and want to know where’s the stores are failing, awful that you were met with indifference instore

Bogstandardname · 16/09/2026 23:08

HexInductionHour · 16/09/2026 23:04

submit a quick email to their customer services they really are helpful and want to know where’s the stores are failing, awful that you were met with indifference instore

Show quote history

Actually did this and got a "Thanks for letting us know" reply.

lovecheesymash · 16/09/2026 23:08

I never look at use by dates on food. If I open a pack or carton of anything and it smells off or looks bad I won’t use it, otherwise it will be used. I have eaten yoghurt that’s a month or so out of date and come to no harm .
A friend even looks at the date on packs of biscuits and won’t eat if they’ve gone past the use by date.
I noticed the date on a packet of polenta that I used last week; it was 2023! We’re still breathing!

HexInductionHour · 16/09/2026 23:13

@Bogstandardname cheapskates! I got a gift card

NoWordForFluffy · 16/09/2026 23:16

lovecheesymash · 16/09/2026 23:08

I never look at use by dates on food. If I open a pack or carton of anything and it smells off or looks bad I won’t use it, otherwise it will be used. I have eaten yoghurt that’s a month or so out of date and come to no harm .
A friend even looks at the date on packs of biscuits and won’t eat if they’ve gone past the use by date.
I noticed the date on a packet of polenta that I used last week; it was 2023! We’re still breathing!

Yogurt lasts forever! We had some ancient Ainsley Harriott cous cous last year. It might've had a 2021 date on it! I'm definitely not dead. 🤣

Bogstandardname · 16/09/2026 23:17

HexInductionHour · 16/09/2026 23:13

@Bogstandardname cheapskates! I got a gift card

Really. Haha. Missed out again. 😀

Thegirlwhowent · 16/09/2026 23:20

Yes, I think you'll be fine. They don't instantly go off on their 'use by' date at the stroke of midnight.

FancyKitten · 16/09/2026 23:22

They’re grand. Give ‘em a quick sniff.

PotatoNumber5 · 17/09/2026 12:27

Did you die? We need an update

Bjorkdidit · 17/09/2026 13:14

Lets hope the OP does come back or else the 'food turns into poison the second it goes past midnight but I don't eat it on the use by date either just to be sure' crowd will use that as evidence that the OP must have been killed off by her one day past the date sausages and carry on wasting food unnecessarily.

Theyreeatingthedogs · 17/09/2026 16:32

Hey OP, are you dead yet?

GripGetter · 17/09/2026 16:46

Sausages pre-date fridges by about 3000 years. They were invented to preserve meat.

Is the cellophane bloated? (It won't be, yet). Proceed to sniff test.