Can we eat it: colorful udon edition

December 27, 2015 3:11 PM

We recently bought udon with a "use by" date of "May 12 16," except one has some weird orange spots (looks like colorful flavoring accidentally included from something else, and the second instance of weird purple-like tint and possibly a bit of slimy consistency. Here's a photo, with the areas in question circled for emphasis. Can we eat it, eat around it, or should we chuck it?

We bought them within the last few days, took it from the grocery store down the street, then soon put it in our refrigerator. Yesterday we opened the outside packaging and found colors on two of the three packages we bought at the same time. We found a similar purple-ish spot on a previously purchased package, which we threw away, because we weren't sure. Seeing this a second time gives us pause - are we being overly cautious, or is this a brand to avoid in the future? Thanks!

posted by filthy light thief to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

I wouldn't eat that.
posted by limeonaire at 3:48 PM on December 27, 2015

As a semi-frequent consumer of similarly-packaged udon, I would vote "chuck it."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:53 PM on December 27, 2015

Some mold is orange. Nthing toss it.
posted by brujita at 3:58 PM on December 27, 2015

orange mold can be quite dangerous (unlike the blue/white molds.) Bleh, toss.
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:03 PM on December 27, 2015

Oh no. Nooo.
posted by rhapsodie at 4:05 PM on December 27, 2015

I'm pretty blasé about these things, but I would not eat that. My recommendation: udon't!! ~~LOL
posted by threeants at 4:06 PM on December 27, 2015

Nope. All the nopes. Do not eat. If you're feeling helpful, email that photo to customer service of the manufacturer and/or place you bought the noodles from.
posted by bilabial at 4:17 PM on December 27, 2015

I would definitely avoid that brand in the future
posted by brilliantine at 4:17 PM on December 27, 2015

OK - agreed on all counts, though we're planning on taking it back to the store for a refund, along with sending pics to the company in complaint/concern.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:26 PM on December 27, 2015

That's a serious cleanliness issue at the manufacture and packaging plant - ewwwwwww!
posted by jbenben at 5:08 PM on December 27, 2015

So glad you erred on not eating it. Yuck!
posted by spunweb at 6:51 PM on December 27, 2015

We had this exact same problem with this exact same brand a couple months ago and the store where we bought it must have chucked everything a week or two after that because their fresh noodle section was empty until early November.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:05 PM on December 27, 2015

Aw man, I ate one of these today without looking at the noodles. I'm gonna go check the other ones I bought.
posted by headspace at 5:43 PM on December 28, 2015