TESCO is pulling a popular party food from shelves over fears it could be “unsafe to eat”.
Customers have been warned not to consume the product as a labelling error could mean they’re eating out of date food.
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Tesco is recalling its 8 Chicken Tsukune Skewers after packs were labelled with an incorrect use-by date.
The skewers were given a use-by date of December 23, instead of December 10.
According to an alert by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), this “makes them unsafe to eat after the 10 December 2024 date”.
The food safety watchdog has urged customers who have bought the chicken skewers not to eat them.
Read more on food poisoning
Instead, they’ve been told to return the products to any Tesco store for a full refund – no receipt needed.
You should never eat food past its use-by date, even if it looks and smells alright.
“Eating food past the use-by date presents a significant risk of foodborne illnesses to consumers,” the FSA warns.
That’s because some foods deteriorate over time in a way that can pose a safety risk.
Eating food that’s gone off – even it seems alright at a glance – can make you very ill.
Meat products especially – as well as ready to eat salads – can go bad quickly.
“For food with a use-by date, the ‘sniff test’ is not an appropriate method for testing if food is safe to eat,” the food watchdog warned.
“Food can look and smell fine even after the use by date has passed, but the product will not be safe to eat.
“We can’t see or smell the bugs that can cause food poisoning.”
Raw chicken especially can be contaminated with a number of different germs – such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, or Clostridium perfringens bacteria.
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Normally, you can kill these bacteria by cooking meat through thoroughly.
But you still need to avoid eating spoiled chicken, because cooking the meat won’t eliminate all of the toxins produced by bacteria, which can give you food poisoning.
Symptoms of food poisoning include:
- Feeling sick
- Diarrhoea
- Vomiting
- Stomach cramps
- A high temperature of 38C or above
- Feeling generally unwell – such as feeling tired or having aches and chills
They’ll usually start within a few days of eating the food that caused the infection, but sometimes they can strike after just a few hours.
There are a few visual cues you can rely on to tell you that chicken has gone bad.
If it’s starting to go grey-green or develop spots of mould, you definitely should not be eating your chicken.
A acidic smell can also indicate that chicken is not safe to eat, though this can be harder to spot if the meat has been marinated in sauce, herbs or spices.
Finally, poultry that’s gone bad can develop a slimy texture.
Use-by date warning
The Food Standards Agency provided the following guidance on adhering to use-by dates for food:
- Never eat food after the use-by date, even if it looks and smells ok
- It is safe to eat food until midnight on the use-by date shown on a product, but not after, unless the food has been cooked or frozen
- Food can be cooked until midnight on the use-by date listed on the product and then cooled and kept in the fridge.
- Food can be frozen before the use-by date, but it needs to be cooked within 24 hours of defrosting.
- Consumers must follow the storage instructions on the product, with specific reference to chilling foods
Source: FSA
