to tell you that food that "doesn't go off" does go off

[Msplace]

There's labels on food that tell you to use it within a period of time of being open. I was advised those labels didn't matter and if it smells ok it probably is, and they're just designed to make you buy more food more often make money. Don't listen to people who tell you this! This poor advice made me very ill.

Oh god common sense really has died

What did you eat?

What was the food? The labels are guidance but you need to exercise a certain amount of caution!

Surely you decide yourself if it is safe not rely on what other people or labels tell you.

Did you sniff it, whatever it was?
What was it?

What was the food?

It's not poor advice, it's just that generally, and I am generalising, we haven't got the same magical powers that our granny had to tell at a glance or a sniff whether something was edible. They didn't have the same packaging or refrigeration so they were a bit more savvy.

It was yogurt that had been open for 5 days. Use by was 3 days of being open

It totally depends on the food! I'd be cautious about meat products. Vegetarian food except for rice is very low risk.

Can I ask how you know what precisely made you sick? How do you know it's even food based?

Are you sure the yoghurt made you ill? I eat a lot of yogurt and never read the date, just chuck it if it's gone weird or mouldy. I've not had any problems.

What temperature is your fridge currently running at? (You do have a fridge thermometer, surely?)

Yoghurt is basically gone off milk anyway! It would have to be really rancid to make you ill and you’d never eat it.

See also cheese.

Well I ate an unopened yoghurt the other day that was about 3 weeks after use by. It looked, smelled and tasted fine and no ill after effects but I would not eat an open one after 3 days and that's with the lid over. I make 3 overnight oats on a Sunday to have mon-Weds and they're fine but people were surprised about that

I'm sorry but common sense should tell you you don't leave yoghurt open for 5 days.

But has yours been sitting open for 5 days or still in its sealed carton

Food poisoning from hummus is surprisingly common too.

How do you know the yogurt made you ill?

Your mistake was that it was already open.

I’ve eaten yoghurt three months past its sell by date, it had actually become fizzy. I was fine although it wasn’t the nicest. We buy those big containers of Greek yogurt from Costco and an open one lasts us about a week and a half, never had any problems. You need to learn to judge for yourself as whoever gave you that information about use by dates leading to major food waste and overbuying was right.

I leave yoghurt open for ages and never have a problem. Currently working through a pot that I first opened over two weeks ago.

I had a mouthful of unpleasantly fizzy out of date yogurt recently, not going to forget that one in a hurry!

Didn't make me ill luckily.

There is a MASSIVE difference between using an unopened container of something that's a few months out of date but was stored correctly, and eating an open refrigerated dairy product (that is prone to going mouldy by the literal process that creates it) after oxygen has got inside the container. That's not the "use by" date for the unopened product, that's you not following correct storage/consumption instructions. YABU and I suggest you read up on food hygiene.

You need to learn the difference between use by and best before…google it, I can’t be arsed

Same here. Open and use til finished. Can be weeks!