Sell by dates - fact or fiction?!

[auntiebertie]

I am looking after my elderly mother at the mo and am shocked at the amount of food she has in the larder that is well past the sell by date [and I am talking years here!]. She says there is nothing wrong with it and in the past there were never sell by dates on any tins etc - and is getting cross that I am trying to throw everything out of date away....... Does it really matter?

[Fiszi]

It all depends on what it is. Some things just lose their nutritional value and others start to grow bacteria and fungus in levels that could make you ill. Canned stuff thats out of date by a month or so doesn't really matter too much but years is bad!!

[auntiebertie]

Tins of soup or tinned fruit that are a few years out, and currently trying to get her to chuck bottle of Ketchup that is 6 months out....:o)

[candybar]

things that have been opened should generally be thrown after a few weeks, let alone months. hmm i've found a few things in packets and tins a year or so out of date and i've chucked them out. just in case. will help to see if the date is best before or consume by, as this will indicate what can be kept for longer. lots of things have changed since your mothers day! and the precautions on food is one of them. can never be too careful! why not secretly replace things when shes not looking teehee.

[horselady]

25 years or so ago, I was a cook in a school canteen. I had a huge store room which was kept stocked in the case of a nuclear war! We had massive tins of beans, soups etc. and the understanding was that the food in tins was OK for 10 years. It sounds so innocent now that we all thought we'd be alright as long as we had enough to eat, but my point is that tinned food should be OK for quite a long time..

[JulieB123]

With the addatives and things now it is best to go with the dates on things, I knew someone who had things in the cupboard with no dates on at all !!!!!!

Its not worth being ill for a tin of soup, go with candybar and replace things like for like she won;t remember everything in the cupboards

[ummmm]

I think it comes down to covering their arses. If they didn't put on a sell by/use by and someone got food poisoning we would all be suing them

[normy]

It really depends if the tins say "Best Before", "sell by" or "use by".

Best before means that the product is still safe after the date, but the quality will deteriorate.
Use by means just that, you should not use/eat it if it is past the date,
Sell by is a guide to shops that tells them when they can sell the product until.

[chitchat]

my parents are the same. Some items were years out of date. I think mum forgets they are there. Dad hates throwing things out and says they will be ok to eat. Thankfully he is blind so he cant see that I have chucked them out! Although he is probably right about tinned stuff being ok I dont think it is worth taking the risk - particularly with the elderly.

[beejaybee]

My mum keeps food well past it`s date & eats it. She`s 86 & is never ill with bad tummy etc.