Food waste is a huge problem both in the UK and the wider world. It’s estimated that we throw out about 70kg of food per person each year, or £470 per household.
Reducing food waste can be tricky. Often it’ll be fruit and veg that’s turned earlier than expected, but the way we prepare some food can play a key role too. For example, you can make sure you use all of the edible parts of a pepper by following this method.
Another key issue, however, is the expiration date. They’re there as guidance for when food is no longer safe to eat, but there’s plenty of cynicism around whether they’re overly-cautious and inspiring people to throw food away that’s still edible.
To test out this theory, TikTok user Gavin Wren (@gavinwren) challenged himself to eat a set of foods that he’d kept months past their expiration dates. Results were… mixed.
The 2023 experiment saw him eat a box of cheese he’d bought in November 2022, among other ‘matured’ delights.
"I wanted to find a way to help people to reduce food waste,” he said in the video, noting how he reckons a fair share of edible food waste comes down to expiration date cautiousness.
He did insist, however, that people don’t go to the same lengths he’s gone to whilst making his point. It’s just as well considering one of the foods made him a bit unwell.
It’s par for the course for Wren, with plenty of videos posted since he launched his account in 2020 that show him wolfing down expired grub.
He’s chugged milk that was 41 days out of date, and if you’ve ever accidentally done the same then you’ll be surprised to learn he survived that encounter unscathed. Wren has also filmed himself eating yoghurt that was 43 days past its best and even had some mould growing on it, again without getting ill.
Of course, he may have a particularly robust immune system, and your own results are likely to vary.
There was one food in particular, however, that proved too hot for Wren’s stomach to handle: some in-date spinach.
"It was a bit soggy but I thought I'd be fine," he said.
He stirred the spinach into a pasta dish without cooking it first, and he became ill soon after.
Unfortunately for Wren, leafy greens like spinach can come with a dose of E. coli or salmonella, and so they need thorough washing or cooking beforehand. If it’s on the turn, as his was, the risk of eating some unpleasant bacteria is higher.
Generally, we would advise heeding expiry dates where food is on the turn, but if it looks and smells fresh, and a little sample taste test comes back how you’d expect, it’s probably okay to eat.
If in doubt, throwing out that spinach is a worthy alternative to risking some food poisoning. Where you can, though, chuck it on a compost heap rather than in the landfill. That mulch will do your own vegetable patch the world of good.
Featured Image Credit: Peter Dazeley/Getty ImagesTopics: Health, Diet, Social Media, TikTok, UK Food
Rachael Davis