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.

How on Earth can you know it’s the yoghurt? Seems highly doubtful.

This is because you had it OPEN for 5 days. Don’t be daft.

This!

That'll be food spoilage bacteria you smell as opposed to food poisoning bacteria which has no smell. There can be multiple bacteria's on foods it won't necessarily be just one.

Same.

Quick heads up re E Coli in watermelon 🍉- I bout a tray of ready sliced in Asda - grandaughter ste it and was violently ill - E. coli - I have since been told the condition some melons are grown in are less than hygienic 👍🏿☘️

@eveoha How do you know it was the watermelon - was it tested for e coli? I hope she made a quick recovery!

Fields are never sterile, but seeing as any pathogenic bacteria will be confined to the outside of the watermelon, that isn't normally a concern.

I'd bet very good money that the bacteria was introduced at the point it was sliced - unclean knife, chopping boards, surfaces or packaging being the most likely candidates.

I do every week 🤣
You can really tell when yoghurt is off. Otherwise it’s fine.

Some yogurts even have the 5 days on them

Yes. That's why I never buy cut fruit

One of my links is literally about milk contaminated with Staph Aureus.

And on a Petri dish specifically contaminated with staph aureus, I’m not smelling food spoilage bacteria.

Not sure where you read that food poisoning bacteria have no smell, but it’s nonsense.

Missed a “no” from this sentence:

Not sure where you read that no food poisoning bacteria have no smell, but it’s nonsense.

Some do not smell and smelling food is not reliable, but some absolutely do smell.

Yoghurt shouldn’t be going off 3 days after being opened. This suggests your fridge is mouldy. Clean it

Ready sliced melons need to be washed before you eat them. This is a basic survival technique I learned in India.

What makes you think the water is safe, the water you'd be using to wash the melon with, I mean. I suppose maybe PP meant a weak bleach wash.

In uk it is logical assumption tap water is safe.
Unlike rivers and sea.....

Adding, in countries withnot safe tap water you used bottled one

I teach food safety as an ex EHO, food poisoning and food bourne bacteria have no smell, it's why the "sniff test" is pointless to detect it.

But the version of food safety taught by EHOs is ridiculously conservative.

I've ignored it all by a huge margin and it's decades since I've had food poisoning. The one time I have in my adult life was due to a prawn sandwich from the work canteen a few days into my new job and I was off sick for nearly a week. And that will have been in date and refrigerated to death, because they always are.

Rice left at room temperature overnight, half arsed reheated takeaway, yogurts out of date and open for a week or two, ready meals a day or two out of date, cheese months out of date, I've eaten it all routinely and it's never made me ill.

Yoghurt is annoying now because you don't get snap lids on it any more so it goes off quicker.

Sorry to hear you were ill OP.

The advice is to protect public health within the food industry to eliminate risk. What someone does in their own home risk wise is totally up to them, but in the food industry you can't just ignore the advice because "so and so has been eating it for decades and never been ill".

That would be like using the logic of "well Susan has been driving on the motorway at 90 mph for decades and never had an accident so it's fine".

Re watermelon 🍉 I abhor the things - the bloody unnatural granular texture 😐I have been vindicated re the cause of illness by a BBC article - she’s getting no more - plus in hindsight I should have contacted Asda as a person with a less robust immune system could have been made v ill - lesson learned

I bloody love watermelons. We buy the big massive ones from the Turkish shop.

Pre-cut watermelon is bland and tasteless.

Can you link the article? I haven't seen anything so I am sure people would like to know if there was an outbreak in the supply chain for asda