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Smoked Salmon out of date

(58 Posts)
DollyD Thu 01-Jan-26 17:26:21

Hello! What do you think?
Just found an unopened pack of Smoked Salmon dated use before 21st December.
Do I risk it or throw?

hollysteers Mon 05-Jan-26 16:54:58

I ate some French cream cheese my DD gave to me past its date after a little while in my fridge, and I thought she had had it in her freezer then fridge.
It certainly smelled fine and I gobbled it up. I was so ill and what made it worse was I cannot now vomit after hiatus hernia surgery, so it took longer to go away..,.

Fartooold Mon 05-Jan-26 17:07:36

Joplin re giving the cat out of date salmon, the cats round here eat out of the food bins! I am certain some of the food would be well out of date!

MaizieD Mon 05-Jan-26 17:19:44

Casdon

Smoked salmon contains bacteria from the off MaizieD, because generally it is not cooked, it is cold smoked. The bacteria can include listeria, which is why vulnerable people should not eat it. Hot-smoked salmon is obviously safer.

I recall from my ancient food hygiene certificate that, given the right conditions, bacteria can multiply at a very fast rate, dividing every 20 minutes.

I'm aware that vacuum sealed smoked salmon kept in a fridge is not optimum conditions for food poisoning bacteria, but I then assume that they do multiply, albeit very slowly, and that a 'use by' date is calculated on an anticipated bacterial load which is considered to be non hazardous?

This whole issue intrigues me.. any bacteriologists here?

Deedaa Mon 05-Jan-26 23:16:22

I certainly wouldn't risk the smoked salmon. My father always used to say "How much did it cost? Is it worth being ill for that amount of money?" Ironically he was the only one of us who ever had food poisoning. It was in the days before food had dates, and he cooked himself some sausages that were in the fridge. Unfortunately he had lost his sense of smell and didn't realise that they were off,

HelterSkelter1 Tue 06-Jan-26 03:54:12

Thank you Welbeck. That would have taken me a long time..weeks maybe... to remember. Sunk cost fallacy of course.

nanna8 Wed 07-Jan-26 02:24:33

When we had a cooked chicken recently I threw the whole lot into the back yard after a couple of days ( when we had eaten it ). By morning every single bit had disappeared,including all the bones. Something’s hungry. Could be possum,fox or birds but I never see which it is. We do have a big backyard and it is like the proverbial zoo round here. It’s not dogs because all dogs are captive and not allowed to roam in this fair land and the same applies to cats. No freedom for either.

Grammaretto Wed 07-Jan-26 02:42:20

Whenever the discussion is about food safety I always think of the Lanarkshire tragedy of 1997 when at least 20 died and many others seriously ill.

Killer food bug's legacy of suffering www.theguardian.com/news/1999/feb/10/food.foodanddrink?CMP=share_btn_url