Questions tagged [food-safety]
Our community answers question on food safety as defined by official regulations. Questions and answers that contradict that view, are considered off-topic.
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Is My Vaccum Sealed & Marianted Steak Still Good? [duplicate]
I accidentally left out two raw steaks that were individually vacuum sealed and marinating in Worcestershire and A1 for about 5 hours. They were mostly frozen when I put them out and it's pretty ...
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Does shaking a jug of milk impact its longevity
With some products like non-homogenous milk and ciders with precipitate its desireable to give the jug one or two sharp shakes for consistency. But I've found myself habitually doing this even for ...
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Why would HTST/UHT milk be "unsafe, but not taste bad"?
User @rumtscho notes in another question's answer:
If you are trying to keep the milk for multiple days in the fridge
It will become unsafe after 3-5 days, there is no way around that. If
you switch ...
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Why consume DRIED apricots within 21 days?
I bought a large bag of dried apricots at Costco. I was planning to enjoy them slowly over the next few months (the Best Before date is in mid 2023) but the label says: "Reseal and refrigerate ...
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No water bath canning
I want to use the same recipe for green tomatoes and other vegetables. Is it safe. I do not use water bath
My recipes used 3 parts vinegar to 1 part water. I use it for cayenne peppers.
user101611
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Is strong smell normal for Serrano ham or is my ham bad
I just got Noel branded Spanish Serrano ham from Costco. Remove ham from the plastic package and noticed that there is a strong smell coming from the ham. It's not terrible but not very pleasant ...
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Canned and sealed jars of boiling applesauce now after two weeks a little mold on some jars. What do I do? Can it be saved?
Canning applesauce. It was boiling and jars sealed. After two weeks a little mold on some of the jars… do I have a problem? Can it be fixed now?
(From later information:)
The jars are completely ...
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There are black stains on the kitchen tissue when I wipe my pan after washing, is it safe to use the pan?
After washing my pan with dishwashing liquid, I was wiping it dry with a kitchen tissue and noticed black stains on it. So I washed the pan again with dishwashing liquid and wiped it but the black ...
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What is the best way to set hot water pastry?
Some hot water pie recipes require the pastry to be moulded into shape and left to dry out and set overnight or up to 24 hours before filling and baking (e.g. Scotch pies).
Is it best to leave the ...
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Best way to sous vide food in large vacuum pouches
I know there is no reason not to trim oversized vacuum pouches to fit the contents, but if you are not able to do so, what is the best way to deal with the excess pouch during cooking?
If you leave ...
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How to decode some less common food Expiration Manufactured codes (US)? [closed]
How do I decode these codes?
206 X4A1 14:57 and 206V
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I need to judge whether my bread flour is ok or not. 50LB bag 11 months old
The bag was packed tight. It was in standard flour sack and inside a thick cardboard shipping box, there were a few hundred pounds on top of it, on a skid. It was not wrapped in plastic. Mostly the ...
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Are chemical ice packs as efficient as regular ice?
I live in a moderately temporary climate and our fridge freezer does not have an built-in ice maker.
I want to rapidly chill food after cooking it sous vide. Would cold water from the tap supplemented ...
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Why is it that veggies, fruit, and meat need to be salted or sugared when fermented to avoid pathogens, but milk and yogurt don't?
Haven't been able to find a clear enough explanation for this. When it comes to fermented milk products like clabber and milk kefir, you don't seem to need to do anything other than in the first case, ...
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Shelf life of homemade kombucha vinegar
How long does homemade kombucha vinegar last on the shelf (non refrigerated)? Or are there signs to tell it’s gone bad beyond the it smells bad?
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Seer torshi (pickled garlic) with metal lids dissolved in the vinegar
So I pickled a lot of garlic 8 years ago, but being a novice, did not know the metallic lids would dissolve due to the vinegar.
The garlic is whole, still in its husks, and I was wondering if it were ...
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My jars sealed, cold packed raw chicken quarts, but canner ran dry towards the end. Can I reprocess within 24 hrs when my new canner arrives?
They are bone-in chicken parts, and the jiggler never stopped jiggling. Raw cold packed quart jars. Realized the canner was dry upon removing the lid. They are still sealed 6 hrs in. I need a new ...
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How much free space do sous vide items need in a water bath?
When placing food items in my sous vide bath, often the pouches will rest on the bottom of the bath or against the sides of the container.
I've also seen dedicated sous vide magnets used for attaching ...
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Is quickly soaking beans or dhal etc. equivalent to an overnight soak?
If a recipe calls for beans etc. to be soaked overnight, it is seemingly possible to recreate this process quickly. One method advocated would be to rinse the beans, add to copious amounts of water ...
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Can I save flour dredge used for raw chicken for a later batch? [duplicate]
What if I have like 50 pieces of chicken and I only fry 25 but I have 25 left would it be ok to use the same flour considering it’s the same batch of chicken
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Do modern food stores have a code for "this package of ham was from a bad pig"?
I have noticed that sometimes, something like a package of ham slices will be heavily rebated. You can buy several at once for a much smaller price than usual. Even though the product is normally ...
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How much is the flavour of a BIR curry affected by the aluminium pans used in takeaway restaurant cooking?
BIR (British Indian Restaurant) cooking is a specific method used by takeaway restaurants to quickly cook curries using precooked ingredients. Typically, spices are fried in oil, ginger and garlic ...
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Do duck eggs require extra safety precautions?
The answer to a recent question on the Law Stack Exchange ("Is it illegal to sell duck eggs in Austria?") establishes that fresh duck eggs are (or were) illegal to sell in Austria without a ...
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Food safety when making Koji rice / kojikin
I want to understand the process by which koji rice is not effected by Bacillus Cereus et.al.
The basic instructions for fermenting your own koji rice is:
Steam rice
Let it cool to around 35℃
...
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What is the correct way to use plastic wrap?
There seems to be two different ways of storing food in bowls with plastic wrap between countries (Saran wrap, Cling film etc). Method 1 is to stretch the film tightly over the opening of the ...
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Should pasteurizing homemade hazelnut spread and storing it in a sterilized container keep it fresh as long as Nutella?
I consider making a Nutella-like spread on my own, seeing how it would be much cheaper and also could be made to contain more hazelnuts and less (non-palm) vegetable oil or sugar.
Looking at Nutella's ...
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I forgot that I soaked rice , urad , and chana?
Well I soaked uncooked rice , urad dal and chana together at 7 am and now at 5am I completely forgot about it ! 😖😖 What sould I do ? Is it safe , if I do it now ?
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Is partially frozen food safe to eat?
Our refrigerator every so often gets a large build up of ice at the back, a sure indication that the freezer needs manual defrosting.
Quite often we have discovered packets of cooked meat, vegetables ...
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What is the shelf life of dried lotus seeds?
Since the Mooncake festival is coming. I am thinking of making Mooncakes with some dried lotus seeds I bought a year ago. Could they still be safe to eat?
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How safe and durable is commercial meat packaging when exposed to alkaline and acidic marinades?
This question is born more out of sheer laziness than curiosity, but preparing two marinaded meat dishes the other day (Char Su pork and pork vindaloo), it struck me that I could have saved myself a ...
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Cooking rice in bulk and adding to stew for weekday meals [duplicate]
I usually cook a stew of some kind on a Sunday, put it in a container in the fridge, I then eat it for an evening meal during the rest of the week up to Friday or Saturday. Each weekday evening I cook ...
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Can I reprocess jars that have sealed?
We lost track of the venting time but since it was a strong heavy steam, husband put the weight on. Regulating the jiggles was hard to do and finally we just turned the heat off. Thinking to start ...
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How can I safely store garlic and ginger in oil without preservatives?
Storing garlic, ginger and certain other vegetables etc. in oil is a well documented botulism risk if preservatives are not added. As a consequence, I always make my pastes fresh immediately before ...
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Cross contamination of rotten snake food and cooked food in the freezer [duplicate]
I had a container of cooked chicken pie filling in my freezer and after our son moved back in, he brought his pet snakes and stored their food (dead chickens and rats) in the bottom shelf of our ...
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Can I save my vinegar soaked caraway seeds?
I prepared some quick-pickled onions (the variety that you only keep in the fridge for a few days) and used a "boil the vinegar then pour it over" method. I accidentally dropped about 40g of ...
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When do foods with a use-by date really go bad? [duplicate]
UPDATE:
All the standard recommendations say you can only store refrigerated raw chicken for 1-2 days, but that seems really conservative, since it's designed for immunocompromised people. Therefore, ...
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When do bananas go bad? [duplicate]
When do bananas become unsafe for eating? Is it when they turn brown? Or black? Not for recipes, but for straight eating. Also, does the peel color even matter if the inside of the banana is still ...
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Is it safe to eat chili sauce when some dried around neck on brand new bottle?
I opened a new jar of chili sauce and there was a dark hard substance on the rim and inside lid in same spot, like some of the sauce was there when the lid was placed and sealed. There was none inside ...
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What spices need to be cooked before use due to food safety concerns?
I recently purchased a home curry kit which comprised of various powdered spices (including chilli, cumin, coriander etc.) and a separate curry sauce. To use, the meat or veg is fried until browned, ...
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Classico Pesto left outside for a week, used in recipe, still safe?
So I thought I didn’t open my jar of pesto(on the counter) and used it in a recipe, but I just realized I used it before for the first time around a week ago. So it’s been sitting on the countertop, ...
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I accidentally sprayed bleach on some apples. Is this dangerous?
When I was bleaching towels, I accidentally sprayed some on apples nearby. The next day, to be safe, I washed these apples for about 15 seconds. Are these apples safe to eat Could someone get sick?
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Are pig testicles edible?
I’m just asking a question about a part of the animals anatomy. I’m watching something on the discovery channel and where they are located they stated that, people in this part of the village eat ...
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Can warm pecorino grow listeria?
So my mom ordered some pecorino Romano and it came wrapped in insulated bags, foil and ice packs that had melted. The cheese appeared wet inside the vacuum sealed bag Can pecorino grow listeria after ...
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Why must fermenting meat be kept cold, but not vegetables?
This is a somewhat unique question, so I'll start by stating my assumptions that I understand to be "widely known" among food preservation enthusiasts. If any of these are not accurate, ...
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What are "processed dates", are they ready to eat or just easy to wash?
I got a package of dates, an oval long one, with an interesting-looking spoon/stick inside of the package along with dates. It is not stated on the package if they are ready to eat or not, but they ...
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Is my powdered milk still ok after being in a 100 ° hot trailer for 3 weeks?
I was out of my trailer for 3 weeks here in Yuma AZ. Temps reached 100 degrees in trailer. I had powdered milk (Augason Farms brand) left behind.
The milk is unopened. Is it still safe?
Janet
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Are shrivelled chilis safe to eat and process into chili flakes?
I home-grow chillis (Capsicum annuum, "Guarda Cielo") on my windowsill. This year, some of them began to have fruits very early (February to March). I left some of them on the plant for too ...
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Time and temperature required to kill parasites in fish?
There's a lot of incomplete information floating around the internet about food safety with regards to fish, sous vide, and sushi.
For example, plenty of sources say that cooking at 60C / 140F for 1 ...
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i have a 1980's teamade, something is all over the bottom, i can't get it off/out, would you consider this safe to drink from? what is it? fixable?
as you can see, something is all over the place in the bottom of the kettle around the edges? can i remove them, can this be fixed? its great and i have been drinking from it every morning but i ...
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Dented can botulism possibility?
So this evening I made some chili the cans I bought were perfectly fine no dents or anything, I go to open the diced tomatoes and realize my can opener made a dent while opening the can I went ahead ...
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