Uncle Ben's 'Gratins Dauphinoise Cheese & Onion Sauce' Best Before 1998 donated to food bank
- 3 months ago
Food bank volunteers were gobsmacked after someone donated a jar of Uncle Ben’s sauce – which expired in 1998.
The 25-year-old ‘Gratins Dauphinoise Cheese & Onion Sauce For Potatoes' was included in a box given to Sunderland and County Durham Food Bank.
It was found on Tuesday (23/1) by a volunteer who was checking items at their warehouse in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
The worker became suspicious when they looked at the faded label and noticed the contents of the sauce was “a little grey”.
It had printed on the lid the best before date of June 9, 1998 – meaning it expired a whopping 9,360 days ago.
Food bank manager Jonathan Conlon, 47, said it was the oldest item volunteers had ever received.
He said: "We sometimes get things that are a couple of years out of date and occasionally at harvest festival time, for example, we get things that people have cleared out from the back of their cupboards.
"It's not that unusual to get the odd donation that is out of date, maybe a year or two, but this is the record.
"It's crazy really, it's older than some of the people who work here.
“It couldn’t have come from donations at a supermarket because everything is in date so it must have been a personal donation.
“We certainly won’t be opening it but to be fair although it looks a little bit grey, the sauce looks intact and not too bad considering it’s age.”
Jonathan posted a picture of the out-of-date sauce on X, formerly Twitter, to remind people to check the dates of food before donating.
He added: "Sometimes we get half-eaten packets of biscuits or cakes where, maybe, somebody has tried it themselves and thought better of it.
"What we always say is it's wonderful to receive donations but if people can donate things that they would like to receive themselves, that's probably the best rule of thumb."
The 25-year-old jar of Uncle Ben's sauce is now going on display at the food bank.
The 25-year-old ‘Gratins Dauphinoise Cheese & Onion Sauce For Potatoes' was included in a box given to Sunderland and County Durham Food Bank.
It was found on Tuesday (23/1) by a volunteer who was checking items at their warehouse in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
The worker became suspicious when they looked at the faded label and noticed the contents of the sauce was “a little grey”.
It had printed on the lid the best before date of June 9, 1998 – meaning it expired a whopping 9,360 days ago.
Food bank manager Jonathan Conlon, 47, said it was the oldest item volunteers had ever received.
He said: "We sometimes get things that are a couple of years out of date and occasionally at harvest festival time, for example, we get things that people have cleared out from the back of their cupboards.
"It's not that unusual to get the odd donation that is out of date, maybe a year or two, but this is the record.
"It's crazy really, it's older than some of the people who work here.
“It couldn’t have come from donations at a supermarket because everything is in date so it must have been a personal donation.
“We certainly won’t be opening it but to be fair although it looks a little bit grey, the sauce looks intact and not too bad considering it’s age.”
Jonathan posted a picture of the out-of-date sauce on X, formerly Twitter, to remind people to check the dates of food before donating.
He added: "Sometimes we get half-eaten packets of biscuits or cakes where, maybe, somebody has tried it themselves and thought better of it.
"What we always say is it's wonderful to receive donations but if people can donate things that they would like to receive themselves, that's probably the best rule of thumb."
The 25-year-old jar of Uncle Ben's sauce is now going on display at the food bank.