Would you use mince 2 days over use by date?

[aprilrain]

It looks fine. I hate waste - especially meat. WWYD?

as long as it smells ok i would :)

Bin it! but I'm a chicken.

I'm sure many posters will tell you to smell it, I'd do that and then imagine a smell.

If it looked and smelt ok yeah and you were cooking it for a decent length of time.

Yes.

It would have to be over a week past for me to start questioning if I would still use it!

I might, depending on the colour.

Open it and smell it.

I'm an ex food microbiologist and used to set use by dates, I probably wouldn't use it, it won't kill you would just taste a bit off.

Without batting an eyelid, even a week over. The best filet is hung for 28 days and is black!

You are hardly going to make tartare with it are you? As all mince is boiled to buggery slow cooked in bognaises etc, it will be super tender and well hung!!!

When we left London (fresh, vacuum packed supermarket meat) and used the trad. country butchery I REALLY noticed the gamey (hung) difference.

Also, and Kitty being a microbe can confirm, e. coli is found in fresh meat, and dies off in well hung meat.

I wouldn't with mince. Other meat I would, but mince has more chance of contamination before packaging as they have to process it. I'm a veggie though and am anal about cooking meat when I do use it!

Well, I've always assumed that mince has a higher risk of contamination from bacteria content from it's processing. It seems logical to me anyway.

No probably wouldnt use it!

Noses were invented before use by dates...

I would.

Yes of course! Mincemeat is a preserve, and if the pastry has gone green you'll be able to see that with your own eyes - but it won't have.

Yes, if it's off then you would know by the smell well i do anyway

if it smells ok, I would have no probs in cooking it up.

I would go by look and smell and if i was in doubt would bin it

things at the bottom and right at the back of the fridge (ie the coldest parts) are more likely to last an extra day or so, then stuff thats within the date, but higher and at the front.

If it smells okay I use it, mince, not chicken, a chicken just has to look wrong and it goes out...

I would if it smelt OK, the cooking process will kill any bacteria. I think the use by dates are set very conservatively, it's a compensation culture we live in after all.

Personally I wouldn't.

Mince is dodgy because the meat has been all churned up, that's why you always well cook a burger.

Things like steak etc and your hung meat are pure muscle, any bacteria are on the surface so a quick flash fry is all that's needed, hence bloody steak.

Things like raw hams are hung for months and salted and any bacteria in them have been shown to die off.

Usually the quality goes before it would harm you, spoilage bacteria are the ones that cause the greening and the lovely smells. I think with meat if you open the pack and nearly gag or faint chances are its off

I'd use a bit of common sense !

If it's still pink and smells ok use it, If it's a bit brown and smells ok cook it, without anything else, and keep sniffing.

My rule is if it smells wrong before or during cooking it goes in the bin. If it smells ok when properly hot you can throw in onions and proceed as normal.

I've known mince be very boarder line on it's date and fine several days after, it really is use old fashioned common sense.

Well it is currently being transformed into a chilli con carne - it smelled ok but had a few brown bits. But I have used mince within its date that had started to go brown.

It had indeed been at the bottom and back of the fridge (hence my forgetting it was there until today).

I'm going to cook it for at least an hour.

Ah.... I retract my previous statement - I thought you were asking about mince pies

Never mind cutted