Would YOU eat it?

[Colonel Green]

This thread has two main purposes: First, I want advice on whether or not I should eat the chicken tandoori wrap that I left out overnight for about 15 hours, saran wrapped, in my briefcase. It was refrigerated before that. Beyond that, I'd also like to find out people's views on such matters generally. Would you eat it in my position? Are you willing to drink expired milk? etc

As a bonus, if instructed to eat it, I'll keep you posted on the results.

I'm normally a bit of a stickler when it comes to expiry dates. My wife often makes fun of me for being afraid of milk that's a day past the line. Thing is, I really WANT to eat it. I know it's gonna be good, and my wife is out of town, so I can't expect a real meal. Not to mention the fact I spent $4 on this damn thing!

What say you, Trekbbs?

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I wouldn't. But that's just me. I have friends that will eat pizza that's been sitting out on the counter overnight. And they claim to never get sick from it.

If you've ever gotten sick from eating spoiled food trust me when i say, that $4 ain't worth it!

 

[RoJoHen]

I suppose it would depend on the temperature of your home. I've often eaten food that was left out for a day, as long as it's covered.

As for expired milk, I've never allowed milk to get that old. I drink a gallon every 2 days. That said, I will occasionally drink warm milk that's been sitting out in the open for several hours.

Also, this:

my wife is out of town, so I can't expect a real meal.

is a ridiculous statement.

 

[Colonel Green]

I see where you're coming from. I've only ever gotten food poisoning once, and it was in fact from chicken. A group of us stumbled into McDonalds at about 3am and three of us ordered 20 McNuggets a piece. Mine were the last ones served, and I suspect that they rushed them. I'd only had 3 or 4 beers and hadn't eaten anything else that day besides toast, so I know it was the chicken.

I couldn't even keep WATER down for most of the next day.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I trust my nose. If it smells bad, get rid of it. If it smells good, it's stuffing time.

I'm not very picky. I've eaten stuff expired for some days, they were perfectly fine. Especially canned stuff.

 

[Colonel Green]

I suppose it would depend on the temperature of your home. I've often eaten food that was left out for a day, as long as it's covered.

It's about 21C

As for expired milk, I've never allowed milk to get that old. I drink a gallon every 2 days. That said, I will occasionally drink warm milk that's been sitting out in the open for several hours.

Also, this:

my wife is out of town, so I can't expect a real meal.

is a ridiculous statement.

It was intended to be.

 

[Count Zero]

It depends on how warm it was where it lay. Generally, I'd say you can still eat it since the chicken is cooked/grilled.

Usually, you can consume food a while after the expiration date, unless it looks/smells suspiciously. I've never been sick from food, ever. (But I've been a vegetarian for years, which is less dangerous in that regard.)

 

[RoJoHen]

I suppose it would depend on the temperature of your home. I've often eaten food that was left out for a day, as long as it's covered.

It's about 21C

Your crazy temperature scale is meaningless to me.

 

[Colonel Green]

Spock is a metric man and you know it!

I think that'd be about 70 hogsheads, give or take a bushel.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yes, I would eat it, assuming it doesn't smell funny. You can usually trust your nose with things like that more than what the expiration date says. And overnight is nothing anyway unless you live in the tropics or something.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, go ahead and eat it as long as it doesn't smell/taste weird.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I'm always wary of threads that condone dangerous behaviours such as risking food poisoning upon one's person. Salmonella is no joke, I can tell you. (That said, I had a good story about food poisoning from 2008 which through various circumstances led to one or two good things, but that's another thing entirely. Well, almost.)

Anyway, as far as expiry dates go, "Best Before" is generally a guideline as to how good quality a food is before it expires, i.e. after that date, the food is not as good as it ought to be, but isn't necessarily unsafe to eat; while "Use By" is an actual instruction to eat an easily perishable food before it does indeed go off in a bad way. ("Display Until" is for shopkeepers' guidance only.)

Me, I'd trust my bowel.

 

[RoJoHen]

Me, I'd trust my bowel.

There is no higher authority.

 

[Holdfast]

What say you, Trekbbs?

Do it, you know you want to.

Would I do it myself? Actually, no. I've had proper food poisoning a few times, and it's pretty damn awful. So I'm now quite cautious about this sort of thing.

Realistically, if the ambient temperature was reasonably low, and even if it's got campylobacter or whatever growing at a fair old rate by now, you're probably big and strong enough to shake it off fairly easily. No guarantees though, so think of it like playing roulette. As I said, I wouldn't do it, but if there's nothing else in the house and you feel lucky, I definitely fall under the "morbid curiosity" category of the poll!

Worst food poisoning I had was from a beef in almond sauce dish I ate in the South of France once. I was ill for weeks - no joke - after that. I was a young kid at the time, and figured it tasted pretty vile, but having never had a beef/almond dish before, I reckoned I should give it a few mouthfuls before deciding I really didn't like it. Big mistake.

 

[RoJoHen]

In the case of food poisoning, I'd say there is a major difference between food that is not prepared properly and food that is prepared properly but was left sitting out for a while.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Seeing as my wife and I both having the UK's three-star level Food Hygiene training, and she works with cooked pies and chickens, and seeing its been sat at 21 degrees for 15 hours, we both say definitely do not eat it.

Nothing to do with the best before date, everything to do with the time at the temperature.

And that's from one ex- and one current- food professional.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Worst food poisoning I had was from a beef in almond sauce dish I ate in the South of France once. I was ill for weeks - no joke - after that. I was a young kid at the time, and figured it tasted pretty vile, but having never had a beef/almond dish before, I reckoned I should give it a few mouthfuls before deciding I really didn't like it. Big mistake.

Worst I ever had was at a Star Trek convention, oddly enough... And it was the chicken.

 

[Holdfast]

Worst I ever had was at a Star Trek convention, oddly enough...

We're still talking about food here, right?

 

[Geckothan]

Throw it away, it's not worth the risk. The longest I'd leave something out for is 6 hours or so if it's just been cooked, but that's only if I'm waiting for it to cool down so I can refrigerate it. I often eat pizza that's been out overnight when I pull allnighters, order too much pizza and end up having it for breakfast, and I've never got sick from that, but I wouldn't chance it with something that's full of chicken.

Also on the topic of best before/use by dates, I've heard that food manufacturers give a margin of about a week on use by dates to compensate for differences in storage temperatures, humidity etc.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Me, I'd trust my bowel.

There is no higher authority.

Yes. I certainly wouldn't trust someone on the other side of the Internet to tell me what is edible or not. Even if it was just for a laugh.