..... would you risk it?

I'm very much against consuming out of date produce, anything remotely out of date over 2 days and it's straight in the bin. However I'm slightly tempted to try some beer I came upon.

I was clearing the garage out yesterday and hidden behind some clutter was an unopened case of Corona Extra bottles of beer which I'll be honest I'd completely forgotten about. I remember now that it was given to me by a mate for my birthday last year which is surprising because he knows I drink mostly spirits so why give me beer unless he was hoping I'd hand it straight back (no chance).

Anyway the beer is dated UK 16122015 (16th Dec 2015) so it should have been consumed long before now. So with that being said, would it still be perfectly fine to drink, or is 4 months just too long to risk getting cramps or whatever ailments come out of consuming out of date products.

So the question is, would you consume any produce whether food or drink which is past its sell by date?

If it's the 'best before' date I would.

That depends on the product. If it's sealed in a can then yes, I probably would. I can't see a can of beer going off. It might suffer taste-wise but then I'm not a keen beer drinker anyway.

if it passes the sniff test, I'll eat it.. I once some drank some ginger beer I found in my grandma's cupboard before discovering it went out of date some ten years before, still alive to tell the tale some thirty years later.

Best before/sell by dates are just that. Products won't be 'worst after' one day later in most cases. Use your nose and your eyes. They are the best indicators of whether a product is fresh or fit to eat at any given time.

And then you wonder why there is so much food wastage in the UK, because of 'sell by/best before date' slaves.

A bit of common sense needed here.

Take honey for example. It will have a sell by/best before date on it when bought down the supermarket, but it will still be edible in 1000 years. This has been proved from honey found in Egyptian tombs.

Yes, especially with veg like garlic and onions. I recently used some garlic that was a couple of months past its sell by date and it was fine.

I've had beer thats been years out of date and other than it looking a bit rough visually was fine and went down a treat. crack one open and pour some into a glass and have a sniff, if it don't smell like some tramps socks left in a peat bog for 6 months it'll be fine...remember alcohol is anti bacterial (they use it in hospitals as hand wash) so if a few bugs did get in they'll of died off ages ago in a very happy place.

Why I'm dead set against consuming out of date produce particularly food is because 25 years ago I ate a packet of chicken which was 2 days out and I was bedridden for the best part of a week from the following day which right or wrong I blamed on the chicken. So I guess it's a case of once bitten twice shy.

This is it isn't it. Products which are heavily preserved with salt, vinegar, sugar or vacuum sealed will normally last for ages after their sell by/best before dates.

Examples being.

Tinned products.
Pickled fish/gherkins.
Marmite.

Others being powdered soups, noodles, mayonnaise, beer etc.

I used some out of date ham in an omelette the other day, it was fine and I'm fine. I use out of date stuff all the time. I've just made a trifle with a stale, out of date Swiss roll.

yes, if it smells ok and doesn`t look rancid i`ll eat it.

I'll sniff it and see, a steak or something turns a funny colour as does most meat, veg and fruit you can tell right away just looking at it. I'll eat chicken a day or so after and ive got rice and pasta thats been in the cupboard for months. only thing i stick to strictly is milk.

probably was the chicken, did it not look slimey or a bit petrolly?

I do ot all the time. Yesterday I made garlic bread with two half baked baguettes dated 16th March. They looked OK and smelled OK and apart from waking with garlic breath this morning (despite teeth being cleaned befoe bed) no ill effects.

I trust my nose, eyes, knowledge of science and common sense.

open those garlic baguettes and stuff them with pepperoni or some garlic mushrooms then stick them in the oven... delicious

I stick strictly to the use by date on chicken . Meat I would be wary but check on the next day . Fruit or veg I go by how it looks , even wrinkly apples are fine once peeled . Things like biscuits or cake or chocolate I eat regardless of date as long as its not stale .

Out of date means differant things ie use by, sell by, best before.

'Best before' dates relate to the quality of the food, its taste, texture, aroma and appearance. If food is stored according to package guidelines, it should be at its best up to and including the 'best before' date.

Food should be safe to eat after the 'best before' date, but it might not be at its best quality.

Retailers can sell food after its 'best before' date provided it still complies with the Food Safety Act 1990 and the General Food Regulations 2004. These make it illegal for someone to sell or supply food that does not meet food-safety requirements or that does not meet the consumer's quality expectations. It is illegal to sell or give away food after its 'best before' date if the food has deteriorated so much that it does not meet these expectations.

If you believe a shop has sold unsafe food, you should report it to your local environmental health department, which may investigate.
Use by

'Use by' dates refer to safety and are the required form of date mark for foods considered to be highly perishable from a microbiological point of view. This largely means fresh and chilled foods, such as raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, fruit and vegetables.

The 'use by' date only applies to products kept in the state in which they were intended to be sold: for example, a product created to be sold chilled should not be sold frozen.

Legally, food with a 'use by' date cannot be sold after that date, and should not be used after midnight of that day, even if it looks and smells fine.
If you have food approaching its 'use by' date, you have two options: you can cook it on its 'use by' date then eat it straightaway, store it in the fridge for up to two days, or freeze it; or you can freeze it the day before its 'use by' date and then cook it within 24 hours of defrosting.

It is illegal to sell food after its 'use by' date.

Depends on what it is, I have loads of out of date dried herbs and spices that I still use, most are a few months out of date, just had a look in my cupboard, ooh err the mint's best before Dec 2002, probably time to bin it, last year threw out a jar of cinnamon that was best before 1988 ,

I thought my rice from 2012 was bad enough LOL

Since suffering with food poisoning my answer is no.
Even if the food smells ok and looks ok I still throw it away.
No way am I going through that dreadful experience again.

You know I bet the same thing would have happened had you eaten that same chicken 3 days earlier. My guess is it would have salmonella contamination already and you didn't cook it thoroughly enough.

Oh Gosh that does sound good. Slices of chorizo in them would have been gorgeous. A bit late now.

I tried it with goats cheese as well, but it just turned into a soggy mess

What did you eat?

It was a packet of chicken breast slices already cooked, the tear at corner of packet and consume type which had been lying in the fridge for a few days prior.

And in answer to Annette yes the chicken smelled fine otherwise it would have been threw out. I would always do the sniff test on chicken whether cooked or uncooked even if it's showing a week ahead.