Best before dates on pouch items

As has been said, open it, smell it and taste a bit.
Having said that I and my family have extremely robust health,

There is probably nothing at all wrong with the food, as "best before" means precisely that. If you are in doubt when you open the packet and see the contents throw it out.

Exactly travelsafar we wouldn't really have had much in the food cupboard for weeks or months.So its difficult to compare.

What are J O pouches? Never heard of them. I think tins and frozen goods are ok past their dates, unless the tin is bulging...
I usually cook from scratch anyway, so it’s just a case of using a bit of old fashioned common sense.

annepl i agree. I remember my mum not having a fridge until i was around 7years old, so every thing was bought fresh daily from the delivery van or local shops or market at the weekend. She didnt have the money to have a large stock of food in the pantry either.

As far as I remember when I was young we didn't have much packaged preserved food and we didn't buy so much in advance. We usually bought on a weekly basis and often daily.

With meat products, you can't always tell by the smell, and so it's best to observe the "Use By" dates as they could make you ill. Items past the "Best Before" are not likely to make you sick, but it's useful to know how old things are so you can rotate your stock of tinned and dry goods. Recently I found a tin of black-eyed beans that was well past its BB date, and decided to use it anyway. The beans had a horrid, fusty flavour, and spoiled the whole dish I was using them in. Honey, as someone says above, doesn't go off, although the texture may alter as the sugars crystallise, but honey producers are obliged to invent a Best Before date to go on the label. "Best Ignored", I would say!

It is estimated that 15 million tonnes of food is wasted every year across the eu because of these use by dates.

When did people stop thinking for themselves ☹️

Always finding foodstuff past its bbf date and have eaten it and am still here. Bbf products usualky have a long shelf life it just lets consumer know that it may not be at its best after that date. Use by date different but again if smells and looks ok I've eaten it. As previous poster commented when I was young we never had dates on food and lots of food was kept in larder not in fridge and we wasted far less then.

Sometimes those packs tast a bit odd when freshly bought lol

I have eaten yogurt a few weeks past its sell by date. With me it is looks and smell. We didn't used to have dates on anything did we. How on earth did we survive...hahaha

But why would you risk it if you can afford not to??

In the Caribbean there is a saying "What don't kill, fattens!"

Best before are just supposedly meant to give an indication of when a product tastes its best. Would give them a go, they probably have liad of preservatives to keep them okay for a couple of years.

Best before dates are totally abitrary, often made up by the producer because they have to say something.
Use by dates are something else and should be respected, although there are always a few days grace so if they look alright a sniff should help you decide whether they are OK or not.

Sniff them - if they look ok and smell ok they probably are. There is a very wide margin of error with sell by dates, and some are ludicrous. I have a jar of honey with a sell by date - but honey never goes off!

I never knowingly eat anything past sell by date - my body will just instantly reject it one end or the other. Other people will be ok with food that upset my stomach. My sister thinks sell by dates are nonsense but every time I ate at her house I got cramps and problems. So I don’t eat there full stop. I also get terrible anxiety if I eat food that’s off - the only time I ever get anxiety. Not worth it.

Bluebelle
At last a voice of common sense ?

@AlisonKF Suspect it might be Jamie Olivier, that irritating git on the telly!!

What's J.O.?

It may be a plastic leaching issue. You would expect the seal to be much longer lasting than the dates on pouches suggest.

No I most definitely wouldn't. Not worth the risk.

Thank you for your replies. I tried one of the pouches tonight -8 months past date.
Looked ok, but was dubious on taste so I didn’t venture too far.
Appreciate you taking time to respond.

Yes if it smells good and looks good it’s good

I think that "best before" relates more to the quality of the product rather than its safety to eat. It might not taste as good as it would if consumed within the "best before" date. However, if it's a '"use by" date then it is wise not to consume past that date, although I'm sure a day or so (depending on the product) should be ok. Meat, fish, milk etc, I would throw. Flour, rice, lentils, etc should be ok provided there are no weevils in evidence.
If it smells odd at all, or looks slimy or infested then I'd definitely discard it.