Food Recalls

[Rob]

I'm not terribly worried about it, but it makes me think about what I'm eating. It seems like every day, I hear that another food product has been recalled. Is anyone else noticing this? What do you think is going on? I don't think there has been a change in the way food is handled, but at the same time, I wouldn't really know.

Have you ever gotten sick from eating something that was recalled? Do you throw out food when you hear it has been recalled?

I threw out a new, unopened package of sliced cheese once after confirming that it was among those that were recalled. I have gotten sick after eating some things, but I don't know if they were recalled foods or not.

[Jim]

Never paid enough attention to notice. I treat my body like a toxic waste dump. As long as I don't shit my pants, it's all good.

[martycanuck]

We’ve tossed out food that there was a recall on. No point taking a risk of getting sick.

I would hope that if you are perceiving an increase in the number of recalls that the reason is the inspectors are doing a better job identifying problems.

[graham]

Nov 4, 2019 11:48:45 GMT -5 Rob said:

I'm not terribly worried about it, but it makes me think about what I'm eating.

You do *not* want to look up the FDA approved standards for "foreign body" contamination in food...!

Have you ever gotten sick from eating something that was recalled? Do you throw out food when you hear it has been recalled?

I've never had anything that was recalled, but, if it was, I'd probably chuck it out.

PS on a related subject: I'm quite happy to eat something that's a couple of days past it's "Use by" date, as long as it's not been opened and it's been kept in the fridge etc.

[Rob]

Nov 4, 2019 19:07:13 GMT -5 graham said:

You do *not* want to look up the FDA approved standards for "foreign body" contamination in food...!

I know that a certain amount of rat feces is acceptable, among other things.

[marm]

When my daughter was about 5, she contracted salmonella. She was the only one of us who did, so we were reasonably confident that it was because of one of those Lunchable things she'd had. The CDC contacted me because the hospital had reported it to them. We had a few conversations about it, but their best guess was that it was from improper storage in transit, as they weren't able to track down many other related cases, just a couple locally.

This caused her an outbreak of eyrethema multiforme, which the doctors decided was an allergic reaction to the salmonella. As a result, she ended up in the hospital for 4 days so they could treat both, and she was miserable for a couple weeks beyond.

I definitely just toss recalls these days.

[martycanuck]

Nov 4, 2019 19:07:13 GMT -5 graham said:

Nov 4, 2019 11:48:45 GMT -5 Rob said:

I'm not terribly worried about it, but it makes me think about what I'm eating.

You do *not* want to look up the FDA approved standards for "foreign body" contamination in food...!

Have you ever gotten sick from eating something that was recalled? Do you throw out food when you hear it has been recalled?

I've never had anything that was recalled, but, if it was, I'd probably chuck it out.

PS on a related subject: I'm quite happy to eat something that's a couple of days past it's "Use by" date, as long as it's not been opened and it's been kept in the fridge etc.

Same here on the “best before” date (as it is stated over here). My brother in law considers it and “Undeible after” date. He’s very paranoid about that. I’ll give it a sniff first. Meat in particular is pretty easy to tell when it is bad. We do shop in bulk at Costco so we’ll freeze a lot of meat and once frozen the best before date is a bit more meaningless. 

Things like dry goods I’ll ignore the date. The crackers are either stale or they aren’t. Not likely going to get ill from that. 

Canned goods kind of the same. If you haven’t opened the can yet that is. 

[graham]

Nov 5, 2019 17:37:50 GMT -5 martycanuck said:

Nov 4, 2019 19:07:13 GMT -5 graham said:

PS on a related subject: I'm quite happy to eat something that's a couple of days past it's "Use by" date, as long as it's not been opened and it's been kept in the fridge etc.

Same here on the “best before” date (as it is stated over here). My brother in law considers it and “Undeible after” date.

"Best before" isn't the same thing over here, that just means that, after that date, a product may lose flavour or texture for example.

The "Use By" date is a strong recommendation that, after that date, eating something perishable could be hazardous to your health.

Here's what the UK Fodd Standards Agency has to say about it: www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/best-before-and-use-by-dates

I know (my brother in law use to work for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which existed prior to the FSA) that the Use By dates have a bit of leeway built into them to be on the safe side, so I'm happy to go a day or two over them, but anything more than that and I'll chuck it out.

[mank]

I eat things past there due dates if they have been kept in the refrigerator.

On another sort of related note I eat raw hamburger and even raw ground turkey. When I was a kid my dad made cannibal sandwiches, ground meat with onions and spices mixed in. We make Wedding Soup all the time and in the recipe are tiny meatballs that I roll for my wife. One batch of the soup has about 400 meatballs in it. While I am rolling the tiny meatballs I eat the raw mixture. The mixture consists of 96% lean ground beef, garlic salt, parsley, grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese, a raw egg, and I think a bit of pepper. I eat quite a bit of it and it never bothers me. I have a strong constitution and can eat anything. I would have been great on Fear Factor or Survivor where you have to eat strange things. I have played that Bean Boozled game with my family where you eat jelly beans that taste like snot, sour milk, vomit, rotten eggs, etc., etc. I have had everyone of them and it doesn't phase me in the least. Meanwhile the rest of my family is gagging on the terrible flavors. It is all mind over matter.

[frodi]

Nov 6, 2019 12:44:46 GMT -5 mank said:

 It is all mind over matter.

You don't mind and they don't matter.

[fritobandito]

I've never had a recall affect me. The ones I've noticed didn't apply. Can't say that I'm real plugged into the news stream though. I do get random digestive tract issues. Probably because I keep leftovers or jars of stuff too long, even though refrigerated.

[Stan]

My daughter is an expiration date nazi, she goes through our cupboards and refrigerator tossing out anything that is past it's expiration date.


I toss stuff that looks bad or tastes bad, I pretty much ignore the dates if it seems fine.

[Jeannette]

Fresh foods get tossed once they start to go bad. Non-perishables have a habit of sticking around my place.

[martycanuck]

Nov 6, 2019 12:44:46 GMT -5 mank said:

I eat things past there due dates if they have been kept in the refrigerator.

On another sort of related note I eat raw hamburger and even raw ground turkey. When I was a kid my dad made cannibal sandwiches, ground meat with onions and spices mixed in. We make Wedding Soup all the time and in the recipe are tiny meatballs that I roll for my wife. One batch of the soup has about 400 meatballs in it. While I am rolling the tiny meatballs I eat the raw mixture. The mixture consists of 96% lean ground beef, garlic salt, parsley, grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese, a raw egg, and I think a bit of pepper. I eat quite a bit of it and it never bothers me. I have a strong constitution and can eat anything. I would have been great on Fear Factor or Survivor where you have to eat strange things. I have played that Bean Boozled game with my family where you eat jelly beans that taste like snot, sour milk, vomit, rotten eggs, etc., etc. I have had everyone of them and it doesn't phase me in the least. Meanwhile the rest of my family is gagging on the terrible flavors. It is all mind over matter.

Holy shit Mank! Do you consider yourself lucky? Raw ground meat is a very high risk for contamination that could make you really, really ill.

[mank]

Nov 8, 2019 7:19:12 GMT -5 martycanuck said:

Nov 6, 2019 12:44:46 GMT -5 mank said:

I eat things past there due dates if they have been kept in the refrigerator.

On another sort of related note I eat raw hamburger and even raw ground turkey. When I was a kid my dad made cannibal sandwiches, ground meat with onions and spices mixed in. We make Wedding Soup all the time and in the recipe are tiny meatballs that I roll for my wife. One batch of the soup has about 400 meatballs in it. While I am rolling the tiny meatballs I eat the raw mixture. The mixture consists of 96% lean ground beef, garlic salt, parsley, grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese, a raw egg, and I think a bit of pepper. I eat quite a bit of it and it never bothers me. I have a strong constitution and can eat anything. I would have been great on Fear Factor or Survivor where you have to eat strange things. I have played that Bean Boozled game with my family where you eat jelly beans that taste like snot, sour milk, vomit, rotten eggs, etc., etc. I have had everyone of them and it doesn't phase me in the least. Meanwhile the rest of my family is gagging on the terrible flavors. It is all mind over matter.

Holy shit Mank! Do you consider yourself lucky? Raw ground meat is a very high risk for contamination that could make you really, really ill.

Marty, I have been eating raw ground meat since I was a young kid. I think all of our ancient ancestors ate raw meat, you know the cave men!


Cannibal Sandwich

[martycanuck]

Nov 8, 2019 11:17:19 GMT -5 mank said:

Nov 8, 2019 7:19:12 GMT -5 martycanuck said:

Holy shit Mank! Do you consider yourself lucky? Raw ground meat is a very high risk for contamination that could make you really, really ill.

Marty, I have been eating raw ground meat since I was a young kid. I think all of our ancient ancestors ate raw meat, you know the cave men!


Cannibal Sandwich

Didn’t say you couldn’t. I eat steak tartare from time to time. I’m just saying that with ground meat (and especially poultry) it is a risky thing to do.

[mank]

Marty,

I never even think about it since I have been doing it for so long. And we freeze everything first and then thaw it. Maybe that helps?