Bought pastry

Some of the people I visited when employed as an environmental health officer shared the above views. Part of my job was to track down the source of food poisoning. I wish I'd been paid for every time I was told that a food couldn't have made someone ill because it smelled and looked fine. The microbiologists had a different way of checking!

I would. If my adult children knew how many much-past date goods they ate when young, they’d faint! No one came to any harm. Just have to use common sense, smell, look of it etc.

Like you Annifrance, I have only ever had food poisoning after eating in restaurants, unfortunately, more than twice.

I have very strict rules for using out of date food. If it doesn't smell off, isn't a funny colour, hasn't got mould and doesn't taste fizzy then it's fine by me.

Only ever had food poisoning twice - in restaurants.

I love ready made pastry....I dont look at dates...I use my sense of smell....my eyes.... my touch...my sense of taste....and finally my common sense. Whatever did the generations before do without ‘ sell by dates and use by dates’

If it's past its 'Best before date', it will be fine. If it's past its 'Use by' date, then there is more of a risk and I would not use it.

Food can look, smell and taste just fine but still contain enough food poisoning bacteria to make you very sick. “If it smells OK, it is OK” is not a good strategy if the food is past its 'Use by' date.

No use it. The dates are ok

I would have definitely used it, use by dates are misleading sometimes and I think it depends on what the food is. I don t use meat or fish past the sell by date but anything else I don t really have a problem with, just sniff it and see ??Xx

It will be fine to use, presumbably you have kept it chilled? Then you will have used it on a pie that spent a while in the oven....in itself a sterilising/germ killing time.

Give it a sniff. If it smells OK it is OK.

Yes, it'll be fine to use

Smell the pastry. If it smells odd or looks odd don't use it. If it seems OK it probably will be.

I have eaten pastry much more out of date than four days! Pastry gets cooked at a very high temperature, more than enough to blast any nasties.

Farview - been there, done that, still here!

I did, however, sample the cooked apple pie I had made before I dished it up. It was fine though not as good as my late Mum's homemade apple pie would have been, bless her.

Your pastry s being cooked so while the texture might be a little different any thing growing in it , as suggested above, won't be a problem..

Well used to the pastry for a meat pie..I'm vegetarian so didn't eat it...but H is still here so must have been okay! It hadn't been in the freezer..just the fridge
Must say though I didn't feel too comfortable using it...I would normally make my own but find it hard when hand joints are playing up.. thanks everyone for your comments ?

I used some frozen pastry that had been in my freezer for almost a year and it was absolutely fine!

Taste it - if it tastes ok then use it.

I would definitely use it - it's going to be cooked, and at at a fairly high temperature.

Well I have a fairly cavalier attitude to sell by and best by dates. As already has been said by others, sniff, look and feel then make informed decisions.

I also cook food very thoroughly, the sight of red meat at table makes me feel quite ill. Because meat is long casseroled in my house, and often put in the freezer rather than fridge, even if for just a few dates, and so far no one has ever had food poisoning eating in my house. I know that is offering hostages to fortune, but I did say 'so far'

Agree with Anja by our age we should be able to look and smell if something is off.

On the Food Programme recently they said that the mould on jam is perfectly healthy to eat. I don't but, just like cheese, I would take it off and then eat the product.

I think as you get older your gut has met most of the day to day bacteria and knows how to deal with them. Also as we get older we tend to pass or fail potentially dodgy food by the ‘sniff’ test.

Cheese, IMO, is best eaten when ready to walk off the plate. Yummy!

Was the pie ? nice? Are you still alive?

I think as you get older the gut isn't what it used to be and anything the least bit " tainted " will have an effect in some way or another either physically or mentally ( worrying about whether you should have eaten it or not ) so for me personally, it's not worth it.

I've often used shop bought pastry past the "Use by" date with absolutely no problems.

Anyway it's just a guide, below is from an article from Nov 2018 in a trade mag:

Retailers have shortened the use-by dates of food over the last decade, so it's no surprise that more people are throwing good food in the bin.

WRAP, the food standards agency and DEFRA states that use-by dates should only be used where there is a food safety reason to use it, otherwise a best-before date will do.

Knowing what I'm like with out of date stuff------no.
I must be the most wasteful individual on the planet !!

Any left for us??