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#Post#: 73862--------------------------------------------------
Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expired fo
od? Update p43
By: LifeOnPluto Date: February 18, 2022, 10:14 pm
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These dinner party threads have made me remember another
situation I encountered several years ago. I'd be really
interested to know what would have been the politest thing to do
here:
The situation:
You are attending a dinner party (six people, including the
hostess, "Alice"). Alice is serving spaghetti marinara. Just
before dinner, you pop to the bathroom. On the way back, you
walk past the kitchen (it's a fairly open plan house), where you
see an empty jar of marinara sauce sitting on the bench. You
happen to notice that the expiry date was two days ago.
You return to the dinner table, to find Alice serving up, and
everyone really to tuck into their plates of food, which are
covered in the expired marinara sauce.
What do you do? Tell everyone there and then that the sauce has
expired? Try to pull Alice aside and see how she wants to handle
it (although it's likely she'd say 'talk to me later, we're
about to eat now')? Or keep quiet, eat the food, and hope for
the best?
As additional info, Alice is the type of person who doesn't
really care about expiry dates too much.
#Post#: 73863--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: jazzgirl205 Date: February 18, 2022, 10:55 pm
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The jar of marinara sauce would have to be picked up and
examined in order to see the expiration date. Two days past the
expiration date is not a problem.
#Post#: 73864--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: Gellchom Date: February 19, 2022, 5:14 am
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[quote author=jazzgirl205 link=topic=2291.msg73863#msg73863
date=1645246542]
The jar of marinara sauce would have to be picked up and
examined in order to see the expiration date. Two days past the
expiration date is not a problem.
[/quote]
I agree.
To answer the question: I say nothing.
I don’t see how I could “happen to notice” a date on a jar as I
“walk past [or for that matter even through] the kitchen.”
Second, are we really talking about an expiration date? Or a
sell by, or, what seems most likely for a jar of sauce, “best
used by” date?
Most things may lose a little quality after a while, but they
don’t turn into poison at midnight on the date on the package.
In any case, I certainly don’t see a safety issue two days past
even a true “expiration date” on sauce. So what would be the
point?
#Post#: 73865--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: Rose Red Date: February 19, 2022, 5:58 am
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I misread it as two years ago. That's a whole different thing
than two days. ;)
I'd let it go. Two days is fine. Companies just need to put a
date on their packages so they put one they know is safe. Food
doesn't automatically go bad at midnight.
#Post#: 73866--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: vintagegal Date: February 19, 2022, 6:54 am
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[quote author=Rose Red link=topic=2291.msg73865#msg73865
date=1645271924]
I misread it as two years ago. That's a whole different thing
than two days. ;)
I'd let it go. Two days is fine. Companies just need to put a
date on their packages so they put one they know is safe. Food
doesn't automatically go bad at midnight.
[/quote]
Yes, check out your shelf-stable foods. Very few will say
"Expires on". Most will say "Best by".
Fresh food is something else. At the food shelf where I
volunteer, we get meat from the grocery store that says "Use or
freeze by..." If it comes in frozen, fine, if it comes in not
frozen and the date has passed, we throw it out. I just threw
out $200 worth of lamb legs yesterday. Broke my heart.
#Post#: 73867--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: Aleko Date: February 19, 2022, 8:41 am
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1. As it was a jar, the overwhelming probability is that the
date was 'best-before' rather than 'use by'. Food in jars may
lose flavour eventually, which is why they give you such a date;
but unless the lid rusts through, allowing mould and bacteria to
get in, it will not be actually 'bad', as in 'harmful'. It's
like with, say, a packet of cookies: if you open and it eat them
months after the best-before date, they may well have lost
freshness and flavour but you can safely eat them if you want.
(And you can't storm back to the shop demanding a refund because
they have gone stale - the manufacturers warned you!)
2. Companies producing store-cupboard food have no control over
how purchasers store it: so they have to put a conservative
best-before date on it, so that they can be reasonably confident
that even if it has been kept in tropical heat, jolted about, or
subjected to extreme changes in temperature, it will still be OK
till at least that date. So if it is kept in good conditions it
should actually still be fine till well after the best-before
date.
3. Foods in jars have a long shelf life. The longer the
shelf-life of a food, the less a day or so each way matters. Say
you have bought a fresh crab which says 'eat by [tomorrow's
date]: you'd be very rash indeed to eat it any later. But if you
buy a jar or tin of tomato sauce saying 'best before [a year
from the date of production]' that date is basically a handy
round number. It will not go bad on the stroke of midnight on
that date!
So Alice was perfectly justified in assuming that her marinara
sauce was fine to serve. If you had rushed in saying 'Stop,
everyone! The jar that tomato sauce came out of is two days out
of date! Don't touch it!' you would have been wildly
overreacting; and if you had pulled Alice aside to tell her, she
would have been within her rights to roll her eyes and say 'So
what?'
#Post#: 73869--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: Rose Red Date: February 19, 2022, 8:59 am
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I eat bread that's at least a week past the "best by" date.
I remember making rice crispy treats and only after eating them
that I noticed the box of cereal had a best by date over a year
old. The treats were delicious and caused no problems.
I think it may be more of a concern for meats, dairy, and
sauces, but I still don't think there's a concern for only 2
days.
#Post#: 73872--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: STiG Date: February 19, 2022, 2:37 pm
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2 days? I wouldn't have given it a second thought. 2 years?
As long as the sauce was the proper colour and smelled fine, I
still wouldn't worry about it, though I would bring it to
Alice's attention after the fact, out of the ear range of any
other guests.
I make and can my own tomato and spaghetti sauces. It is very
clear when they have not been sealed properly and gone off. It
isn't always the case with some things but tomato based sauces
are pretty clear cut.
Personally, I would use something that was out of date, no
problem. But I wouldn't serve it to guests. With anything
jarred, if there is no *pop* when I'm taking the lid off, I
pitch it. But if the seal is intact? It's fine.
#Post#: 73874--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: DaDancingPsych Date: February 20, 2022, 5:55 am
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I agree that two days is really no big deal. In my personal
life, I pay little attention to those dates and rather focus on
what the food is actually like. As a host, I would probably not
serve something past the date... if I noticed. I suspect that
the host in the story probably didn't notice.
Since the risk is super low, I would not bring this to the
host's attention. She would probably feel obligated to tell the
other guests who would roll their eyes as they would not see it
as a big deal. And then everyone (host included) would probably
not think very highly of me. I imagine that they would question
how I found such a thing. (While OP said that it was seen
accidentally, I would think that most cases would have to
involve someone snooping in the kitchen.) This all could result
in me being removed from future guest lists. The fall-out
doesn't seem worth creating an issue over something that will
likely not be an issue for anyone.
#Post#: 73875--------------------------------------------------
Re: Another dinner party thread - when the hostess serves expire
d food?
By: oogyda Date: February 20, 2022, 8:41 am
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I can't add much to what everyone else has said but I can add a
link
HTML https://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/18363
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