Thought lamb might have been dodgy...

[sphil]

Cooked some lamb last night that was on the day of its sell-by date, so should have been fine. But when I opened it, it had quite a strong smell. Seemed to go off a bit when it had been unwrapped for a while, so I went ahead and cooked it - in a stew, so it was very well done. It tasted fine - but there were lots of spices in there too...

This morning I feel very odd - shaky and sick, though it seems to be going off a bit now. Really, really don't want to have food poisoning. Am wondering if it could be psychosomatic??

It's not food poisoning. You would have been vomiting within four hours if it was off. I suggest you may be coming down with a cold though

actually not all types of food poisoning cause symptoms that quickly, some can take 12-24 hours to kick in.

Why did you eat it if it smelt funny?

thisisyesterday - that's true, but the only forms of food poisoning from meat kick in quicker because of the way proteins are processed I believe.

Also since the meat was casseroled, it would probably have destroyed any nasties (though yes, why did the OP eat anything which smelled funny, I physically can't put something in my mouth that I think is tainted)

Because I love lamb, I thought it may have just been that sort of 'just unwrapped' smell - and I can't bear throwing food away - but yes, I admit it was a bit stupid...

Anyway, it wasn't food poisoning - no idea what, as felt sick this morning too (am not pg. Fine now though!

spil - if meat with high fat content in it has been stored wrapped in plastic it often has a funny smell when opened (it's actually the plasticisers leaching into the food urgh - makes you sterile if you are a bloke apparently if you eat enough of them). But it's mostly harmless.

If there was a pocket of air managed to get in after sealing - ie if there was a slight leak in the packaging, the bacteria in that air multiplies and causes a stink and sometimes the packaging to bloat.

You can also eat food which is remarkably off and still not get food poisoning if you are lucky - the stomach is pretty good at neutralising some things.

I would probably have eaten it too Lamb is lovely!

Possibly my sicky feeling was the stomach doing its neutralising

sphil - lamb is a quite a fatty meat and it may just be that which has made you feel a bit queasy.

You ate it in the evening as well and it would have been on your stomach and upper gastro intestinal tract as well a sbeing processed by your liver and pancreas all night so that may be the real problem.

I no longer eat anthing but fruit and muesli in the evening as I find it hard to digest anything more than that.

Glad to read you are feeling better now.