fear after eating out of date meat

[BRAMBLE]

hiya all ..Gosh ive had a lot of problems on and off since i last posted but i thought id learnt to manage some of my anxiety until this evening when i accidentally ate some cooked packaged beef with the use by date 3 days ago

i hadn't eaten much as anxiety has been with me a few weeks now and im not eating very well but i felt peckish and thought oh well eat some meat from the fridge..and i opened an unopened packet of supermarket cooked beef.use by 3 days ago

i was actually happily chomping my way through it then near the end thought oh i didn't even check the date..and normally im extremely fussy about that

immediately i started sweating and panicking imagining i will now have food poisoning.i think i may even make myself sick at this rate !!!

how much margin do the manufacturers usually give for products i wonder..i often throw out food thats even 1 day before its use by date depending what it is because of my fear of getting food poisoning :ohmy::weep:

[NervUs]

They give a margin.

If it didn't smell, taste, or look bad, I am sure it was fine. Three days over due is really NOTHING at all.

[BRAMBLE]

hello thanks NervUs

no i didnt really notice any smell or taste..it was just an after thought of wow i didnt scrupulously check the date then realised

[MyNameIsTerry]

Use by dates are supposed to be the last date to ensure safety, as opposed to sell by dates which are just a measure of quality, but they always say that we should rely on the old smell/taste testing since anything can still be off before it's use by date. This also applies to after the use by date as food specialists have said most things are still fine after use by dates. For instance, I've eaten cheese days later and yoghurt weeks later.

I think the one they mentioned never to eat after the use by date was shellfish but I remember reading that meats were all fine as long as they smelled/tasted om.

[BRAMBLE]

hello "Terry" ah yes they never used to say use cheese within 3 days of opening either.i rem those days well and never threw cheese out..but now because of the use by dates i always do :(

ive always been more stressy about meat though..still awake cant sleep but no yippy tummy so far lol !!!

[MyNameIsTerry]

We've had chicken and bacon from Tesco in the past that were off before the dates and we could tell from the smell. So I'm sure you will be ok Bramble because it would have smelt off and tasted bad.

Even if you did get sick people get through food poisoning all on their own all the time so it can just mean a rough next day. Try to get into a "I'll face it if it comes" mindset, do something to help relax your mind (read in bed, something relaxing to watch or listen too, etc) and maybe you will relax enough to sleep.

[BRAMBLE]

thanks Terry i did get off to sleep eventually with distracting myself..ive been fine so im sure on this occasion at least that meat was not spoilt

i have a list of health problems already so anything else on top of it would make me quite poorly so i think that triggers a lot of anxiety.

but ive been fine so far :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's understandable, Bramble. With other health conditions you are naturally cautious.

I'm glad to hear you managed to get on top of it and get back to sleep. If anything were wrong you would have easily known about it the next day, not that I thought there would be.