Yoghurts and their BBD

Kotek Besar

Does a yoghurt suddenly turn toxic on the day of it's manufacturer printed "Best Before" date?

I don't think so. In my opinion, it's fine for days or maybe even a week after that date. Just open it and smell it / look at it.

The BBD is there for legal reasons and should not be taken to mean that the product become inedible after that date.

I never throw food away unless it's genuinely inedible and it never does me any harm. Or am I old fashioned?

Nevyn

Is this in relation to feeding it to a child?

Kotek Besar

Thaedydal wrote: »

Is this in relation to feeding it to a child?

Yes.

kmick

Yoghurt is fine - but I would not give a baby something with meat in it after a bbd.

Khannie

kmick wrote: »

Yoghurt is fine

Not sure why you'd think that. The best before date is there as a guide for when the levels of bacteria in a dairy product render it potentially harmful.

Personally yoghurt is one of the few things I wouldn't feed to a child after its BBD.

Now a day or so....no biggy of course. They have a safety margin built in. But a week....well that's a different matter.

gogo

yeah, id be the same in relation to yougart, wouldnt give it after the bb date. When pregnant you cant eat unprocessed dairy due to contamination of listeria, this also goes for babies and people in general with a low immune systems, one way of lowering the chances of Listeria is to eat ready- to- eat and persihable foods straight away or as soon as possible.
Do a search on listeria and you will get some good info.
Chances are slim, but I wouldnt eat out of date food myself, so def wouldnt give it to my baby.
My mam is different, its "best before", "not bad after" for her. but she says in her day:rolleyes: most stuff didnt have best before dates, eggs, butter things like that. She goes a lot by smell:p

kmick

Khannie wrote: »

Not sure why you'd think that. The best before date is there as a guide for when the levels of bacteria in a dairy product render it potentially harmful.Personally yoghurt is one of the few things I wouldn't feed to a child after its BBD.Now a day or so....no biggy of course. They have a safety margin built in. But a week....well that's a different matter.

Poeple think a bacteria is some big bad terrorist mainly due to them being identified as such on silly cleaning product tv ads. Most bacteria including e. coli are relatively harmless. Some variants of it like 051 if allowed the right conditions to grow and prosper e.g. mince meat held at above 4 degrees and then not cooked properly will cause an issue. Yoghurt held in a fridge will have two things going for it.
1. The temperature will be too low for most harmful bugs to grow.
2. For something to be called Yoghurt it generally contains Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus which are surprise surprise two BACTERIA. If you take a yoghurt out of the fridge and leave it come up to room temperature for two days the only thing thats going to grow in that yoghurt are those two bacteria.

Khannie

kmick wrote: »

If you take a yoghurt out of the fridge and leave it come up to room temperature for two days the only thing thats going to grow in that yoghurt are those two bacteria.

This is just not true. Yes bacteria turns milk into yoghurt, but you may rest assured that there are more than just two varieties of bacteria in yoghurt and leaving a yoghurt in a nice warm environment will only accellerate their growth. Some of them friendly / harmless. Some not so much.

The reason yoghurt goes off in the fridge is that the bacteria still grows in it. The fridge just slows its rate of growth (significantly).

kmick

Khannie wrote: »

This is just not true. Yes bacteria turns milk into yoghurt, but you may rest assured that there are more than just two varieties of bacteria in yoghurt and leaving a yoghurt in a nice warm environment will only accellerate their growth. Some of them friendly / harmless. Some not so much.

The reason yoghurt goes off in the fridge is that the bacteria still grows in it. The fridge just slows its rate of growth (significantly).

Fair enough other bacteria may grow over time but if the lid has been left on then nothing particularily nasty is going to happen like botchulism or listeria. You are over playing the nasty bacteria card.

Yes so keeping it on the fridge at 4 or below will extend a usuable shelf life by quite a bit past its bbd. Ive eaten yogurt weeks past its bbd thats been kept in a cold fridge and apart from needing a good stir it was fine.

gogo

From safefood.eu

Listeria monocyogenes

Listeria is a bug that can cause an illness like the flu. It can be dangerous for a number of groups including pregnant women, unborn babies and new babies and people who are unwell. It is important to avoid getting infected with Listeria, because your unborn baby can get infected too. Even a mild illness can cause you to have a miscarriage or a premature birth or your baby to get meningitis.
How can I be exposed to this infection?


Listeria can live in meat, milk, butter, cream, yogurt and vegetables. Food that is not cooked, such as salads or food from the fridge can have Listeria in it. Food that has been cooked before being sold can also contain Listeria.

The thread was in relations to feeding kids out of date products, your on the baby and toddler forum. Many kids have a lower immune system (especially compared to adults), and it is unsafe to feed them out of date products, like I said do a search on listeria, 99% of the sites will say the same thing, one way to avoid it is to eat the product soon after purchase. With well planned meal times (budgeted), which many parents now have, very little food is left to go out of date.

BTW, eating yougart that is "weeks" out of date is just gross,especially when you can get some in tescos for 12cent. Why chance it?

Kotek Besar

My two year old and I just shared a strawberry fruit yoghurt dated 02/06/10. It was kept in the fridge, I opened the lid, gave it a sniff, gave it a stir, gave it a try then we shared it. Absolutely delicious it was. Not sour or in any way spoilt in the slightest. Tasted like it was made yesterday.

To think that some people would have thrown it in the bin without even opening it saddens me. Since when did we become a culture that throws away perfectly good food?

hacked

Kotek Besar wrote: »

My two year old and I just shared a strawberry fruit yoghurt dated 02/06/10. It was kept in the fridge, I opened the lid, gave it a sniff, gave it a stir, gave it a try then we shared it. Absolutely delicious it was. Not sour or in any way spoilt in the slightest. Tasted like it was made yesterday.

To think that some people would have thrown it in the bin without even opening it saddens me. Since when did we become a culture that throws away perfectly good food?

Honestly, why come on and ask for information if you have already made up your mind and are now just going to tut tut people for doing things differently than you??

BBD do have a few days grace period. My friends parents own a grocery store in paris and can tell you about the paranoia of BBDs. Most packaged food is fine well past it's date as long as it hasn't been opened. HOWEVER, you do want to be very careful with meat and dairy products.

Even if I feel like a yoghurt a week past it's sell by date is ok for me to eat, I wouldn't give it to my infant. I've had years to build up immunities, my child on the ther hand hasn't. While 9/10 it might be ok, wouldn't you feel like a right ass if you did made your kid sick?

Kotek Besar

Hi hacked, appreciate the reply. I was actually interested in learning other people's opinions. I am absolutely certain there was nothing wrong with the yoghurt or with any food that I give to my son. If I were to have been in doubt, I would not have fed it to him.

I am better at checking if food is safe than a BBD is which, as you quite rightly say, is the cause of much unnecessary paranoia.

There were no such thing as BBDs years ago as you probably know - we had to use our senses to test if food was safe to eat. A BBD is there for legal reasons and may be useful as a guide, but little more. In my opinion, of course.

cbyrd

Dairy, meat both cooked and uncooked medicines and tinned foods will have a USE BY date.

Most other foods will have a BEST BEFORE, breads cakes biscuits pastas etc
the difference is the ones with the best before won't cause much harm if its a day or 2 over the best before as its really a guide for freshness whereas the USE BY date signals that it would be harmful to eat after this date.

there is a huge difference between a stale biscuit and a potentially harmful slice of ham or pot of yoghurt or an out of date painkiller

caprilicious

gogo wrote: »

My mam is different, its "best before", "not bad after" for her. but she says in her day:rolleyes: most stuff didnt have best before dates, eggs, butter things like that. She goes a lot by smell:p

My mam is exactly the same, I went looking for paracetomol a few weeks ago & found some different medicines dating back to 2006 :eek:

Personally I wouldn't chance any foods past BBD with my child, I would sooner live with the irritation of wasting food than the guilt of making my child sick unnecessarily.

That's just my own personal opinion, I'm not criticising anyone that would feed it to their child, each to their own.

lost in my own head

If I walk in to a shop and see any product out of date on the shelf I will take it off myself and (discreetly) give it to a staff member, as not only will I not feed it to my child, but wouldn't want anyone to pick it up and buy it either. It's just good sense, I know there are some ppl that are not bothered by it, but the date is on there for a reason. I know the food is ok for a day or two after the bbd , but don't want to take the chance, especially when it comes to my children.

January

I'm the same as caprilicious, each to their own but, personally I wouldn't feed my child something that was past it's BBD. It may smell and look fine but bacteria can be deceiving.

I couldn't live with myself if I made my little girls sick because I didn't want to be "wasteful" with food.

Khannie

Kotek Besar wrote: »

I am absolutely certain there was nothing wrong with the yoghurt or with any food that I give to my son. If I were to have been in doubt, I would not have fed it to him.

What's ok for you may not be ok for him - Just because you had no doubt doesn't mean it was safe for him. I think feeding a child a yoghurt that is over 2 weeks past its best before date is taking a risk with your childs health, whether you do or not. For the sake of the cost of a yoghurt, however you measure that cost, I think it's ludicrous.