To be annoyed she fed us out of date mince?

[QuestionableMouse]

Just had tea at my friend's. She cooked a pasta bake which was nice, then on the way out (leaving through the kitchen) she picked the mince packet up and laughed. Asked what was funny and she said "oh, this should have been used yesterday!"

I'm a bit annoyed with her, because I've been having stomach troubles (currently being investigated for an ulcer and IBS type symptoms) and as a result I'm pretty careful with what I eat. I'd never use mince past its date either.

Have loads planned for the next few days too so I'm really hoping it doesn't disagree with me!

Yabu. Sorry to hear about your potential ibs but if you're worried about food making it worse then don't eat other people's food.

Plus, it's one day so will be fine. For all you know, you could be at a restaurant and eating something out of date without knowing...

It’s different when it’s meat 🤢 I’d be pissed off!

I have IBS.
Mince that's a day or two past it's use by date us fine, as long as it doesn't smell.

Don't fret. You'll live.

It doesn't sound like she did it on purpose. And she was honest about it. I don't think she did anything wrong. It was a mistake.

I hope you will be OK.

Best stay away from my house OP, I use the sniff test, can't remember the last time I looked at a BBE date.

It’s a day “out of date”. Do you think the packet has an internal clock that turns the contents rank at exactly midnight on the day? Who needs informing they are perfectly fine food that you didn’t even know was out of date?

@RaspberryChouxBuns

God I could never do that , I’ve had food poisoning before and it was horrendous why would you take that chance .

You're being daft and finding a problem where there isn't one.

You'd be no good at my ex in-laws then! Pretty much everything they served was out of date. No one got ill from it just tasted a bit shit but that was more cos it was boiled to death first

YABU. It’s people like you that contribute to enormous amounts of food waste - food doesn’t go from being perfectly safe to toxic at midnight on the “use by” date 🙄

Did you read anything that I posted?

The only food waste I make in my own home is the odd bone, tea bags, the stalks of veggies and the occasional bit of salad stuff that I didn't manage to use up before it wilted. Stuff with short dates gets frozen and used up.

Bloody annoying being accused of something that I don't do!

My brother used to work in a supermarket back in the 90s. They would cut the greying bits of mince off and then repackage it for sale. You’ll be fine. I do this all the time!

I have IBS and lymphocytic colitis, so I do understand why you are worrying, @QuestionableMouse, but I am absolutely sure you will be fine. Firstly, use-by dates are always very conservative - they build in a margin for error because they’d rather set the use-by date too early than risk in-date food going off too often.

Also, as other posters have said, if the mince was off, it would have smelled bad when she opened it. At worst, the mince she used might have been a bit past its best and might not have tasted quite as nice as it could have - but it was cooked through properly so I can’t see it making you ill.

Yes, I did. I read all your posts.

And you are still contributing to food waste if you think that someone shouldn’t be serving food that’s only ever so slightly out of date. Seafood, fine. But mince? Give over.

I'm not going to add to the use-by information, just to observe that when eating someone else's cooking, you put your trust in them that they have cooked it properly. Just as you trust they've washed their hands before cooking/after using the lavatory; far more of an issue than this frankly silly date issue, yet we invariably trust, as we must.

Well this may sound snobby but I'd hate to have any mince from a packet/supermarket. I'm sure you'll live to see another day...

Well I do it all the time, and break most of the other food safety rules that MN insists you must follow or else you will get food poisoning, such as refreezing raw meat if I changed my mind about cooking it and reheating rice and I've had food poisoning once in 30 years and that was almost certainly from a prawn sandwich from the work canteen that would have been in date and stored correctly.

From all that I conclude that 'the date' is of little relevance when determining the risk being taken.

It's fine

Why do people get so wound up about dates? If it was off, it would have smelled and tastes bad

Stuff with short dates gets frozen and used up.

So you're regularly consuming stuff that's officially past it's used by.

Yeah it does sound snobby, you do realise some people are struggling financially and mince from a supermarket is affordable?

Not only snobby but unenlightened.

Do you question a host of where's the meat was sourced prior to eating it?

Use by dates are usually conservative, one day over is not a big deal. And its not like she did it on purpose, or even misled you, she didn't realise!

Things don't just gone from edible to deadly poison at the stroke of midnight.

Are you alive this morning?

There are so many things though in that pasta bake that could set your guts off - gluten, dairy, nightshades, onion family - that I think the minced beef might be the least of your problems.

Sympathies for the guts, btw. It’s not fun, I know.

I'm definitely in the dates are guidelines rather than rules but would have been embarrassed and upset to have served something accidentally (it sounds like it was accidental?)
Definitely you choose though - I choose for myself but they're my consequences, I can't choose for you if that's ok or not
(Veg though, as long as it looks good is completely fair game)