Ate something that was off

[blackbroom]

Hi,

I know I often panic about really ridiculous things, but I think I ate something that was really off this evening and I'm really scared that it might make me seriously ill.

I made a tomato sauce with some tomatoes that had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks (but looked fine) and squeezed in some tomato puree from a tube that has been in the fridge for far longer than the month they say you should keep it for. I didn't notice anything funny about it when I ate it (there was loads of pasta and cheese with it), but all evening I've had a vile taste in my mouth and I checked the leftover sauce and realised it's got a really nasty aftertaste, like it's seriously off. I think it's the tomato puree. I can still taste it in my mouth now, three hours after eating it, which makes me think it might have been really, seriously, dangerously off.

[katesa]

I don't think it would be dangerous but then I'm assuming that tomatoe puree is quite "safe". I've eaten it months after it has been open and not had so much as nausea.

If you're really worried, ring NHS direct though or 111 though x

[CeeCeeCee]

I think that anything with lots of tomatoes in it often has a bitter taste anyway, also tomato puree has a bit of a metally taste to it. If it was really bad you'd already start to feel ill I think?

[blackbroom]

Thanks Kate and CeeCeeCee. I may just have put too much puree in (but I sometimes eat it neat in homemade pizzas and it's never tasted this bad). I have an obsessive fear of botulism at the best of times, so this is really scaring me. I'll either be really ill tomorrow or wondering why I was making so much fuss.

[Althea]

The odds of there being any botulinum toxin in a commercially prepared, high-acid substance like tomato paste that was kept in the fridge to boot are close to nil.

[blackbroom]

That's what I thought, but I made the mistake of googling (Why do I do it? Why?)and found that if tomatoes have gone mouldy, the mould can raise the PH level to the point where botulism growth is possible. And it's been in the fridge door (the warmest part of the fridge) for a long, long time (maybe as long as a year).

On the other hand, it was very well cooked. And I know that fewer than a hundred people in the UK have had botulism poisoning in the past century, so it's one of the stupider things to have an obsession about.

ETA I'm also wondering if the aluminium pan reacted with the tomatoes and that's causing the taste, not the puree at all.

[Althea]

Then you've read enough to note that applies to low-cooked or home-processed foods, not to highly heated processed stuff in a tube. Tomato paste is generally sterilized at 115 degrees celsius.

If there's a problem, it's because there's a batch that's failed/tainted, and given the age you say this tube is you've have heard about that by now.

[sammyb]

The acid in the tomatoes themselves can make your stomach feel ill.. they do mine sometimes. I really dont think that you should worry. I know it is very hard but stay off Google ( having a hard time myself right now) but dont do it! Sounds like youll be okay