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Comment by Doubl | Hacker News Reader

You're braver than me I'm very squeamish about certain foods and would never trust them beyond their use by dates, meat, milk, butter and eggs being the main ones

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I thought milk and butter are highly unlikely to cause any harm or distress that you wouldn't notice from spoiled taste.

Meat as well but you have to be accustomed to how raw meat is supposed to smell which may be more pungent than you think.

Trust your nose. The date isn't a guarantee. I have had food within the expiry date that seemed off, I ate anyway, and it made me sick.

Meat in the US is highly processed. It generally receives colorants, shaping, or processing depending upon the meat and where you buy it from. Deli meats for example are shaped loaves of meat for easier cutting and different flavorings. A butcher is generally the best bet for getting actual meat and they typically cut the meat the same day as you get it for maximum freshness.

Butter is best before. Honestly can't remember which date type eggs have - we've entirely ignored them for decades. Never yet encountered an off egg, but they do thicken texture a little if you use the months old box you find at the back of the cupboard. It was an experiment, k? :)

Use by we respect - but even then only ish. Mainly as there is a lot of slack built in that date to allow for people with a too warm fridge, or it sitting in their nice warm car for 2 hrs first.

Generally we just go the traditional route to gauge: Smell, texture, separating, colour change, etc. Milk that's turned is super easy to detect. Was even easier before homogenisation.

Use by date, at least in the US, is a completely arbitrary date assigned by the producer as to the date after which peak taste is no longer guaranteed. It has nothing to do with spoilage.

We have two days in France : best by which means nothing and use by which does not mean much either.

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