Out of date food

[Elevenerife]

Curious of your thoughts!

Tonight I was cooking a chicken casserole and pulled out a pre made seasoning packet. I unusually checked the date on it and realised it was nearly 5 years out of date..

I still used it 🤷🏻‍♀️

What would you have done? Surely there isn't really anything to go off in a seasoning packet??

My husband is adamant it has not agreed with him 😂

I definitely have herbs and spices older than that, but it contained anything animal then I'd 100% have binned it

Yup! I've used stuff years out of date from packets and a couple of times tins. A good sniff and we're good to go if it's not pongy

I won’t ever eat out of date seafood, chicken and pork get the sniff test, anything else and I am up for it!

I think that much of it is designed to make us throw out food and buy more.
(This relates mainly to canned, dry and salty foods.)

Yes I would happily use that.

I have herbs and spices that are over 20 years old. They won't do any damage, they just aren't as strong a flavour as they should be. If it's a best before (as it will be for pretty much everything that's not fresh) rather than use by date then it's fine.

Yes I would have used it.

I don't pay any attention to dates on anything. I go by sight and smell. Best before dates don't mean anything harmful anyway. I get my meat from the butchers so it doesn't have dates on it. Even dairy, you can tell when dairy is off.

I would assume that a seasoning packet (do you mean like some sort of pre mixed herbs and spices?) might be a bit tasteless after that long. But I wouldn't think it was dangerous.

I wouldn't have used it. I never eat anything out of date though.

We all survived the night, so I assume all was okay.

Taste wise was fine too, no obvious loss of flavour from age.

Husband still adamant his stomach is off and little one complaining of trapped gas. I'm sure it is unrelated!

I’d never take a chance with chicken (a parent was hospitalised with salmonella and I’ll never forget that!) but anything else is fair game!

Don't they have best before not use by dates on these?

I'd have checked that by tasting a bit of the powder to make sure it wasn't stale tasting so it would ruin the dish, but I've found things like that at the back of the cupboard, years beyond the BBE date and they've been fine.

We had some suet that tasted slightly rancid when about 18 months out of date but in reality dried and canned goods are never going to be unsafe to eat or even taste bad.

I agree with a PP that a lot of dates are there to encourage people with no common sense to waste food.

Last week I made a crumble using plain flour a year out of date. It was sealed in a box and I checked for weavals etc. We're fine. Anything tinned, dry or plant based,I'd give it a sniff. Anything animal based, I won't take the risk.

Dried herbs need to be cooked well if very old. If they get damp over time, fungus will grow on them. Try looking at some very old ones under the microscope..!

A mycotoxin is the greatest concern in the case of dried herbs, due to their low water activity, microbial contamination may persist in these products, and thus, herbs can be sources of outbreaks of foodborne diseases. The toxigenic fungal compounds called mycotoxin are poisonous substances produced by different species of fungus. Three major genera of fungus are identified to produce mycotoxins: they include Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium. Although other genera also produce these toxigenic compounds. The presence of mycotoxins in dried herbs poses health risks ranging from mild to severe damage to the liver and kidney.