Out of Date Rice ?

[hardy49]

have just found a packet of Uncle Ben's rice at the back of a cupboard.The "best before"date is March 05.

Can I use it ????

[weeal]

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[hardy49]

Right.

Many thanks

[4GS]

If it say's "best before" and not "use by" and the seal has not been compromised, uncooked rice should be ok, however, if it is pre cooked rice, chuck it in the bin

[weeal]

thot u were on the dayshift only 4GS

[4GS]

popped in to read replies to my posts weeal, cannae resist the old AB

[Jugglering]

Until *Best Before* or *Use By* dates started appearing on dry goods like rice, flour, teabags, dried pulses etc, I quite happily used them for yonks after I had bought them.... Since I have survived to this age with no ill effects, I do wonder if the best before stuff is just yet another supermarket ploy to make us buy more of them... after throwing away perfectly ok food...

Has anyone out there actually been made ill from eating/drinking *out of date* dried or canned stuff ? Is it really likely that some *rather old* rice grains will make me ill ?

[grasscarp]

I used some medicine for colds this week and noticed that the date was 2005. I am still here and it seemed to do its stuff. I never worry too much about dates as it is a recent thing probably brought in to make us buy things more often.

[sense4all]

only bothered if it says use by, not best before!

[Ice-Maiden]

Don't think that rice, if sealed, would hurt anyone if it was out of date - but I'd love to see the outcome of it! Anyone ever cooked any really old stuff??

[hardy49]

I don't think I will risk it - shame though

[glenis]

what can possibly "go off " in dried food ? it is perfectly safe to eat ,i've been doing it for years , my philosophy is ,if it looks ok and smells ok and tastes ok ,then it is ok to eat rather than reading a sell by date on the side of the packet

[hogmother]

The best before dates are relatively new brought in to stop us sueing manufacturers from food kept to long. Most dried food should be safe if the packet is sealed to eat,use your eyes and nose if it looks and smells ok it should be fine if you cook it try a small bit and check it tastes ok

[Alibobs]

I agree - before bb dates dried goods were kept for years

[WendyS]

I think there's a lot of hype about these Best Before dates, especially when it comes to dry goods like rice. If you open up the packet and it doesn't contain any small moving little flies or any kind of beetles, I think it's a safe bet that it's perfectly safe to eat. We store all our dry goods like rice and pastas in large glass jars and they seem to keep almost indefinitely. The long terms stored goods I would worry about if they were much beyond their Best By dates would be tinned cans like tomatoes which are developing rust around the rims, or where the tins are starting to expand and blow. Otherwise let common sense prevail rather than all this Hea.lth and Safety rubbish. Twenty years ago ago, Best Before dates didn't exist and nobody died as a result of eating food from old cans because people didn't know how old the cans were.