Food Safety...
I don't know how safe food was in the past regarding people becoming ill with food poisoning to some extent I expect poor quality of food and hygiene in general left much to be desired. We also have as we do now instances where criminals used to take food that was rotten or add unsuitable items knowing that it was suspect and sell it to the public.
So any law that makes this not possible and all the advances in how we preserve the quality of food and store it should be broadly welcomed.
However, previously you know I have questioned the use of Best Before Dates/Sell By Dates. The price of food and the difficulty of trying to gauge what you wish to eat from one day to the next doesn't help. And today's lifestyle often means that you have to do one large shopping trip per week, every couple of weeks.
The use of a fridge/freezer has made a lot of difference, I can just about remember using a larder/pantry and a fridge(let alone a freezer)was still a novelty. In my home now we still have a pantry which has a large solid stone slab which I assume was meant to keep food items as cold as possible.
Of course you see old films on documentaries on TV where sometime someone would call and deliver a great big chunk of ice to a restaurant or a private home to keep food cold. I don't remember seeing that for myself. I am sure some people do though.
I believe in being careful up to a point but I rarely stick to dates on food. I don't go way past the date but I really believe if you follow the cooking instructions, store things correctly you can get a few days longer than the date the manufacturers put on the product. It does come down in general to common sense and hopefully using your senses of smell, sight and taste.
Your local grocer did not as far as I know have dates on much if any of the food that they sold especially on fruit, meat, cheese etc...I was looking at the delicatessen of the local supermarket the other week and they had some little pork pies, I am sure that they remain chilled but you have no idea how many days they are on show on the tray so they could've been there days. So you can kind of understand a customer going to a chilled shelf only a few feet away and buying pies that are covered and have a date on them.
The reason this has come again is because the Government are once again going on about the amount of food that is thrown away and the cost of wasting food that is still safe and good to eat and also the cost financially to all concerned.
And though it is a law mainly sanctioned under European law, The British Government once again wants to look at the possibility of scrapping sell by and Best Before dates. The main reason being that they feel that many in the population get confused by these dates on food. When they reach the date people don't know whether to risk eating it or throwing it out.
Allowing for possible problems for retailers keeping/selling stock that is too old and them being able to identify food that should not be sold to the public, if they can find a way around the problem, I am all for the dropping of dates on food. They would also have to find a way to stop dishonest retailers from passing off dodgy items too. Many foods I buy already have dates that allow me to eat something that is up to a couple of years old. So only a few things probably put us at serious risk.
We probably all have some horror stories of food that we find in the cupboard or fridge/freezer that is suspect(I know so from previous posts on my blog and comments left by my friends) :-)
Sell By Dates
So any law that makes this not possible and all the advances in how we preserve the quality of food and store it should be broadly welcomed.
However, previously you know I have questioned the use of Best Before Dates/Sell By Dates. The price of food and the difficulty of trying to gauge what you wish to eat from one day to the next doesn't help. And today's lifestyle often means that you have to do one large shopping trip per week, every couple of weeks.
The use of a fridge/freezer has made a lot of difference, I can just about remember using a larder/pantry and a fridge(let alone a freezer)was still a novelty. In my home now we still have a pantry which has a large solid stone slab which I assume was meant to keep food items as cold as possible.
Of course you see old films on documentaries on TV where sometime someone would call and deliver a great big chunk of ice to a restaurant or a private home to keep food cold. I don't remember seeing that for myself. I am sure some people do though.
I believe in being careful up to a point but I rarely stick to dates on food. I don't go way past the date but I really believe if you follow the cooking instructions, store things correctly you can get a few days longer than the date the manufacturers put on the product. It does come down in general to common sense and hopefully using your senses of smell, sight and taste.
Your local grocer did not as far as I know have dates on much if any of the food that they sold especially on fruit, meat, cheese etc...I was looking at the delicatessen of the local supermarket the other week and they had some little pork pies, I am sure that they remain chilled but you have no idea how many days they are on show on the tray so they could've been there days. So you can kind of understand a customer going to a chilled shelf only a few feet away and buying pies that are covered and have a date on them.
The reason this has come again is because the Government are once again going on about the amount of food that is thrown away and the cost of wasting food that is still safe and good to eat and also the cost financially to all concerned.
And though it is a law mainly sanctioned under European law, The British Government once again wants to look at the possibility of scrapping sell by and Best Before dates. The main reason being that they feel that many in the population get confused by these dates on food. When they reach the date people don't know whether to risk eating it or throwing it out.
Allowing for possible problems for retailers keeping/selling stock that is too old and them being able to identify food that should not be sold to the public, if they can find a way around the problem, I am all for the dropping of dates on food. They would also have to find a way to stop dishonest retailers from passing off dodgy items too. Many foods I buy already have dates that allow me to eat something that is up to a couple of years old. So only a few things probably put us at serious risk.
We probably all have some horror stories of food that we find in the cupboard or fridge/freezer that is suspect(I know so from previous posts on my blog and comments left by my friends) :-)
Sell By Dates
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 6:29 pm
1 Comments:
Indeed, i'm sure it's just health and safety that makes producers/retailers be so strict. This of course also adds drastically to the cost of the food and the waste we all produce.
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