Accidentally ate a damaged product. What to do?

There are situations when we buy products, put them in the refrigerator and forget that each of them has its own expiration date.

Therefore, various sauces, baked goods, canned food and dairy products may be overdue at the time of consumption.

What can be the result of accidental use of an expired product?

Do I need to pay attention only to the expiration date on the package?

It is important to know that the indication of the expiration date on the package is an average and fairly general concept.

Often, this term refers to the concept of product quality, not its safety.

In other words, some of the products will not cause harm to health if they are consumed after the expiration date – they simply lose some of the taste, acquire an unpleasant taste or smell.

Moreover, products that have not expired, but for some reason they have deteriorated, can also be dangerous. This is especially true for dairy, meat products, salads, and sauces.

Often, violation of storage or transportation conditions, damage to the packaging leads to early spoilage of the product.

Therefore, the first thing you need to pay attention to when evaluating the quality of a product is your senses – sight, smell and taste.

Mold, stickiness, unpleasant smell, discoloration, taste and other indicators of spoilage of products should be a reason to refuse to use.

In addition, often spoiled products, in which pathogenic bacteria multiply and toxins accumulate, do not look any different from normal, benign ones. Only laboratory tests can determine the problem.

And the sensitivity and tolerance of certain products by the body may vary. In any case – there is a simple rule: if the quality of the product is in doubt, it is better to stop using it.

This is especially important if the products are intended for children, the elderly, pregnant women, or nursing mothers.

By the way, often manufacturers are reinsured and write the expiration date with a margin. Therefore, a delay of several hours or 1-2 days should not turn out to be something dangerous, if the visual organoleptic properties of the product are not changed.

Let’s discuss five possible effects of using expired products:

No consequences

Most often, the use of products that have expired (just a few days) will not cause any harm to a person.

In addition to the unpleasant taste and spoiled mood due to a tasteless dish, no negative effects will occur. But do not take advantage of this fact and use expired products. They can be dangerous, especially if they were stored in inappropriate conditions.

Manufacturers give recommended expiration dates that reflect the peak quality of the product and its safe use. In addition, these deadlines are necessary for stores, they are guided by them – when they can sell goods, keep them in the windows.

For deep-frozen products, canned food and cereals, and bulk products, a delay of a couple of days is not critical and will not affect your health.

If foods are stored in the freezer for several months, they may become drier, less tasty and juicy, but they can be eaten without fear for your health.

Canned food, if it doesn’t have rust, bloat, or dents, can last for many years. Products in the package-pasta, cookies, cereals-can be eaten after the expiration date, but they will be stale and get an unpleasant taste.

Pasteurized products do not cause infections and poisoning, because when pasteurized, all the flora dies. Therefore, there are recommendations to avoid unpasteurized foods during pregnancy, early childhood, and serious illnesses.

If these are dairy products, they can become dangerous due to the fact that they are contaminated with bacteria after pasteurization, if the integrity of the packaging is violated, improper storage, or cooling. Therefore, before using products, you should evaluate the shelf life, smell the product and evaluate its appearance.

Food poisoning

Food poisoning is one of the first causes of fever, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Food poisoning is possible when using both expired products and those that are quite suitable in time, but are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria or their toxins.

Most often, people are poisoned by perishable products – eggs, meat, moldy vegetables and fruits.

Of course, if the product does not look very fresh, there are signs of spoilage, mold, unpleasant smell, rotten or sour taste, this will stop us from using it.

But some bacteria do not spoil the taste, smell, or appearance of food. And often poisoning occurs if raw, undercooked or long-stored products are used, if the temperature regime was not observed, the cook did not wash his hands during cooking, dirty knives and boards were used.

What bacteria are dangerous

Poisoning can be relatively mild when the symptoms last for several hours, they are not very pronounced and pass without consequences.

However, quite severe, dangerous pathologies caused by certain types of bacteria that infect food are also possible.

Among the most frequent and dangerous pathogens are listeria, Campylobacter, Shigella, Salmonella, Escherichia coli, vibrio cholerae, Staphylococcus. Yeast-like fungi and mold are also dangerous.

Ingestion of these bacteria causes stomach cramps, nausea with vomiting, fever, diarrhea, dehydration, which leads to impaired consciousness, convulsions and fainting. In severe situations, the development of hemolytic-uremic syndrome is possible.

 

What should I do if I ate a spoiled product and noticed symptoms of poisoning?

In this case, it is recommended to take a sorbent and drink plenty of clean water. For example, activated carbon, polysorb, or enterosgel.