Chicken 2 days past use-by date

The problem

You reach for the chicken in the fridge, but the use-by date was two days ago. You don't want to waste it and it looks and smells OK, so surely it is safe to cook. Or is it?

There are more than one million cases of food poisoning each year in the UK and 20,000 hospitalisations. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) warned last week that more of us are risking food poisoning by eating food that is past its use-by date. It also said it was OK to eat food after its "best before" date. So what is the difference and how can you know if tonight's supper is going to bite back later?

The solution

Use-by dates are applied to foods that may make you ill because harmful bacteria can multiply in them. They are used for perishables, including meat, fish and dairy products. Other foods, such as biscuits or pasta, may have best-before dates: these indicate a reduction in quality over time, not how safe the food is. Display-until or sell-by dates are an indication for shop staff to rotate products on the shelves.

It is hard to know the real risk of eating food past its use-by date. If it was contaminated (for example by animal faeces) before it was packaged, left unrefrigerated in a store, or brought home on a long, hot car journey, there is a good chance harmful bacteria could have multiplied anyway. Manufacturers decide the use-by date after stringent testing and will err on the side of caution as food poisoning is bad for business. In reality, food poisoning is more likely to be a result of poor preparation or cooking. Tracing it to a use-by date that has been ignored is hard, as people don't keep the microbiological evidence of food remnants.

The main causes of food poisoning are campylobacter (found in poultry), listeria (in pate, soft cheese and cooked meats), salmonella, clostridium and E coli. Use-by dates are most informative for assessing the risk of the first three bacteria as they multiply in perishable food over time – the other two cause poisoning by having already contaminated the food. The FSA says two-thirds of fresh chickens in stores have campylobacter on them. However, the bacteria are killed if the bird is cooked properly.

Eyeballing or sniffing food is not a reliable way to assess its safety. Spoilage bacteria, which cause a deterioration in smell or appearance, are different from those that make you sick. You could eat food spoilt by these microorganisms and feel fine. Equally, a hamburger teeming with E coli might smell great.

To avoid food poisoning, shop carefully and freeze anything you won't eat by its use-by date (you can still freeze it on that day). Since food poisoning can be lethal, don't serve food that is past its use-by date to a child or elderly person. However, food poisoning is not pleasant for anyone and is best avoided by being careful about how you store, prepare, and cook your food, as well as when you eat it.

Do you really need to throw food away by the date printed on the carton? If not, how long do you have before it really goes bad? Here's what I found that may surprise you.

Some people have a fear of snakes. Others are afraid of heights. For me, it's spoiled food. I'm not claiming that this fear of mine is at all rational, but do I really need to be concerned?

There comes a time when everyone has to face their fears. And that's going to start with a little digging into expiration dates. Do I really need to throw food away by the date printed on the carton? If not, how long do I have before it really goes bad? And what does "going bad" really mean? Is it unsafe?

Here's what I found that may surprise you:

1. Expiration dates aren't required

I assumed that there is a regulatory process involved with expiration dates-hard and fast rules. This is not the case. According to the USDA, expiration dates on food aren't required by the federal government. Although some states do require it, there are dating regulations when it comes to infant formula.

2. Different dates have different meanings

"Sell-by" "Best if used by" and "use-by" have similar, but slightly different meanings. None of these are meant to be safety dates for the food (other than infant formula), but rather describe quality.

A "Sell-by" date is geared more toward the retailer, indicating to them when they should rotate product off the shelves.

A "Best if used by" date is an indicator of quality (the food will not be "bad" after that date).

A "Use-by" date is the last day the manufacturer recommends using the product based on quality, not safety.

3. How long will my food last if it goes past the expiration date?

That depends on what it is and how it was handled. The USDA recommends using products that display the use-by date by that time. For sell-by dates that go past at home, you can continue to store the food for a short amount of time depending on what it is. Some common products are: ground meat and poultry (1 to 2 days past the date), beef (3 to 5 days past the date), eggs (3 to 5 weeks past the date).

If you're concerned about food safety, use your nose. If you bought raw chicken and you know it's spent 2 days in the refrigerator after the sell-by date, smell it. If it's bad, you'll know right away. It's the same for milk. It may be good for several days after the sell-by date, but if there's a sour smell, you know it's bad. Otherwise, make sure to keep items in their original packaging to keep track of the dates, or make sure you have a good labeling system so you're cooking chicken or other foods at peak freshness.

4. Could food lose its nutritional value before it's expired?

That depends on the food. Take orange juice, for example. One cup of orange juice can offer a full day's dose of vitamin C. But after it's been open for a week, it loses the antioxidant benefits from exposure to air and light. (And that could happen even before it reaches its expiration date.)

Some foods do lose nutrients when exposed to oxygen in the air, and your food may lose a little more nutrition when it's cooked. Aim to eat your fresh fruits and vegetables soon after purchasing them, but don't sweat nutrient losses too much.

5. Is food safe after it expires?

Expiration dates refer to quality, not safety. For example, if a refrigerated product was kept below 40 degrees and was well packaged and handled, it may look and smell a little funny, but would not necessarily be considered unsafe. If it was left out at room temperature for hours or contaminated by something else, it may harbor harmful bacteria that could cause food-borne illness and it would not be safe to eat.

Perishable foods should never be thawed on the counter for longer than 2 hours because, while the center of the food may remain frozen, the outer surface may enter the Danger Zone, the range of temperatures between 40°F and 140°F, in which bacteria multiply rapidly. For this same reason, you should never eat meat, poultry, eggs or sliced fresh fruits and vegetables that have been left out for more than 2 hours (1 hour in temperatures hotter than 90°F). But this could happen to any food and is not related to expiration dates.

Can I eat chicken past the use by date?

How long can you use chicken after the use by date?