Hacker News Reader

Comment by neilv | Hacker News Reader

A few food-poisonings can make one cautious about food safety...

Even though I'm pretty frugal, one measure I currently practice is to usually not touch food past the best-by/sell-by/expiration date. (Though I'll take this article into consideration, going forward.)

Since I don't like waste, unopened shelf-stable food packages go to the "free stuff" shelves in my large apartment building, where they disappear very quickly.

(Other measures included getting thermometers for fridge and freezer, stopping using sponges and brushes to wash dishes because the occasional microwaving of them might not be enough, tracking dates that some kinds of food were opened/started, and paying attention to packaging dents/puffiness/unsealing.)

View on HN

> Even though I'm pretty frugal, one measure I currently practice is to usually not touch food past the best-by/sell-by/expiration date.

Three different things.

Best-by -> may not be particularly unsafe, but starts tasting gnarly as time goes on.

Sell-by -> the store should sell it by this date, but there's still a healthy margin of time left for you to keep it on your shelves and eat it.

Expiration -> They definitely don't want you to eat it after this date.

Why should they sell it by that date?

> A few food-poisonings can make one cautious about food safety...

Fun fact: most people's claims of food poisoning, particularly from restaurants, are actually Norovirus outbreaks that they get from touching common elements like door handles, and faucets in bathrooms, and so have nothing to do with the food. Actual food poisoning is much rarer than most people think.

I've been actively ignoring these for the last 15 years. For things like fresh meat the smell test is more important - I would even not use something that the label says is good if it smells bad, which happened. Very rarely, but it happened. They have to put those things in most places by law, e.g. honey, even though something with a high level of sugar can last a very long time. Honey can probably last forever. I've eaten candy 10 years past expiry date, some kind of a sugary spread 4 years after expiration etc. I've even had yoghurt a month past expiry. Did not expect, but it was fine after taking a small sip.

It's not completely useless for all things and it is some indication to at least pay more attention, but for the most part it's not really decisive.

I recently ate joghurt that was 6 months after expiry. It lost a lot of water so was quite dense but otherwise fine. I also had some pumpernickel bread that was fine several years after expiry, same with baked beans, lentils, breadcrumbs, etc

yogurt is sort of a special case; it was developed as a way to preserve milk without refrigeration. it's basically pickles made of milk

Food poisoning happens because of bacteria, viruses, toxins etc.

Isn't really related to the expiration date.

""free stuff" shelves"

When I realized that antisocial individuals might place toxic food there, I fell into panic.

What's toxic food and how do you make it? That's the point of this thread...

If the possibility of a psycho in your building makes you nervous, you're probably better off not taking "free candy", and just avoid the stress. (Much like I decided I would rather do half a dozen very cautious measures, than get food poisoning even once.)

For what I put on the free shelves, it's things nearing/at the best-by date, the year and month of that are usually marked prominently in handwritten Sharpie on the front of the package, and I don't put things there if they have any risky signs.

For example, recently, a packet of instant potatoes was nearing best-by date, but the packet seemed puffed up more than usual, like I think I would've noticed when I bought it. So I erred on the side of caution in throwing it away, rather than risk a neighbor, maybe unaware of the suspiciousness, getting sick.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com