I have spaghetti sauce (from a jar) opened in the fridge.  Not sure how long it's been there.  It is not fuzzy nor blue.  Do you think that it's safe to eat?

I wouldn’t.

Does it smell funny?

Heat a little and try it with a piece of bread.

Give it a sniff.
Wow that ^^ was good! @lucillelucillelucille.

Wow, @lucillelucillelucille. That was actually really creative! You make me so proud!

@Jude I probably wouldn’t eat it, but then again, I’m a little funny about my food.

Yeah, I’m not into shitting threw the eye of a needle. I’m passin’!

@lucillelucillelucille I read that to Nikki. Nessuh’s right. Pretty creative!

I vote to not eat it. Better safe than hugging the throne later.

I’d eat it. I never get sick from eating things like that either.

My hubby and I get into many arguments around this issue. I’m not a big expiry date watcher. If something has clearly gone off then I’ll throw it out but if it looks fine I’ll eat it, but only if it has been refrigerated the whole time. My hubby throws everything away a day after the expiry date. My hubby will also leave meat out on the counter to defrost all afternoon. That makes me nervous.

I am pretty sure that it’s a month old.

Big, hawngry.

I would use it. @tranquilsea I think I’m engaged to your husband.

I have a 1 week rule on any food opened, if its in the refrig over a week (since you can’t remember when it was opened) then it goes in the trash. I tend to clean out the frig once a week so as not to have this issue especially with 2 little ones in the house.

Anyone saying “eat it” has probably never had food poisoning.

@johnpowell I’ve had food poisoning, but it wasn’t from anything made at home. I trust the ability to see, smell, heat and cool foods to the proper temperature enough not to throw out certain items just because they are a bit past their published expiration date.

@Pied_Pfeffer you can’t see all organism that can make you sick or have food poisoning. I would chuck it if its older than a week because these things start growing the moment you opened the jar. What is a jar of sauce $2.50, is it worth being sick to save only $2.50.

@Pied_Pfeffer :: I along with my sister and her three kids all got sick from dipping sauce we got with breadsticks at a restaurant. It looked and tasted normal. It was the only thing (other than the breadsticks) that everyone ate that day.

@creative1 I agree that you cannot see all the potential hazards of what may be in a food. I just don’t believe that something magically goes bad the day after the posted expiration date.

@johnpowell With no disrespect, how can it be narrowed down to the dipping sauce when the breadsticks were also consumed by all? And were you aware that there was an expiration date on either?

There was one holiday where just about everyone in our family was violently ill. My dear SIL spent the night in the bathroom with four toddlers that had streams of gook coming out both ends. I was the first one to get sick, and I didn’t eat anything anyone else did. However, I did help prepare the meal. Sometimes, a virus is blamed on food poisoning.

@Pied_Pfeffer :: The sauce is the obvious culprit. I lived 120 miles away and took the bus up have dinner with them so it wasn’t a bug like the flu. We started eating 30 minutes after I got off the bus. I doubt the bread made us sick so the only other thing is the sauce. They had chicken strips and fries at the restaurant and I had calzone. I went to my hotel after dinner. Three hours later everyone was sick.

@johnpowell How do you really know though? What if it was the bread? Or what if it was the server or someone else that passed on a virus? It might have been you. When our family came down with whatever it was, I was just hours off of a plane and may have passed on a bug by being in close contact with them.

The timing in your case is suspect though, if everyone was sick within a three hour range. The thing is, you really don’t know how the dipping sauce was stored before it was served, as well as how old it is. Jude has the answer to both of these questions when it comes to her spaghetti sauce.

I think spaghetti sauce is usually good for about 3 weeks if it is all vegetable. The acid keeps bacterias at bay in my mind. However, the person above who said people who take food risks have probably never had food poisoning, I agree with that. When in doubt throw it out. If you risk it, I would bring it to a boil before eating it.

Unless you’re starving…and broke…it’s far safer to simply buy another jar.

Throw it out don’t eat thet stuff.

I wouldn’t eat it if I wasn’t certain it was less than seven days old.

I’ve had food poisoning and it has always been from something that has been left out at room temperature too long. I’ve never had food poisoning eating an expired food out the fridge.