Last Call: What Dubious Foods Have You Consumed?

We shared with you this morning the cautionary tale of a woman who ate five-day-old gas station sushi and immediately after began experiencing extreme gastric distress and hallucinations—all caused by what turned out to be a tapeworm that had been quietly incubating in the sushi.

We also shared with you a video from our Burning Questions series about whether it is safe to leave butter out on the counter. While it may seem like a dubious practice, it turns out that it's not so bad, especially if you'll have an easier time spreading butter. The only trouble comes when time on the countertop actually begins to degrade the quality of the butter, but it won't cause you to hallucinate.

So there you have two accounts of eating food in suboptimal conditions that go in entirely different conditions. The moral of the story: sometimes it's okay to eat older food that hasn't been stored in ideal conditions!

I have no inspiring tales of my own, though I know I have eaten food past the expiration date. I may also have scraped mold off cheese and eaten it. (The aftermath was completely unmemorable, which is a good thing!) But please share your stories, horrible and otherwise, about eating food of suspect quality.

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