not a stickler for sell-by- dates- but I found a pack of mozzarella, unopened, dated 1st of August- chuck or eat? Advice please?

Open it - shave it - eat it - let us know how you feel

Open it.
You'll know if it's still ok.

My guess would be it's not.

I'm no expert, but aren't soft cheeses the ones you should be careful with?
I'd say chuck it.

One of the worst cases of food poisoning I've ever had came from bad mozzarella.

As the other say, open it. Any whiff of 'off' odor, or any odor for that matter, out it goes. I generally approach expiry dates with a grain of salt, but after that bout of agony I stick with 'best by' dates with mozzarella. Or any dairy product.

Better safe than sorry.

Perhaps I would try it as Dodgyken says- but as I have visitors from AZ and CA arriving at the week-end- don't want to risk it- So, out it goes- I'll put it in the back field tonight for the foxes, they won't mind.

Back in the fridge! In for a penny in for a pound: try it when your guests have gone

When we've had bad mozarella it makes the pack inflate.

I've had it a couple of times in an opened dish - the acid gives it a slightly "fizzy" flavour or sensation that's obvious. But with weekend constraints I wouldn't chance it either.

Well as soon as they've gone, got friends coming from the UK- so the foxes will have a happy night tonight

Well if it's a sealed pack it would still be in its brine, so no way could it have gone "off". Cheese is already milk gone "off", so unless it's exposed to the air and the mould spores therein it will be absolutely fine.

It won't taste as good, most likely, assuming you're talking about real mozzarella and not the plastic stuff you buy in blocks, but I think the risk of it being bad is about 0%.

Edit: for sealed prepacked pasteurised cheeses, I wouldn't normally start to be concerned as long as it looks and smells OK, no matter how old it is. Even if it is past its best it's more just a question of flavour than anything else.

Sure you mean the "use by" and not the "sell by" date? If only the latter is past, serve it, no worries.
If the former: Open - sniff - if it smells ok, taste tiny piece and refrigerate - wait 1/2hr - if you're ok, serve it.

Trust me, truly "off" mozzarella tastes horrid.

Open it, look at it, smell it.

If it looks and smells ok, eat it. You'll be fine. Might not be as tasty as it started out, especially if it's well past the expiry date, but it won't do you any harm.

If it looks mouldy and smells fine, you can cut out the mould (if the piece is big enough to warrant it). If it smells off, bin it.

If you don't trust your eyes or nose to examine it, bin it.

Block mozzarella will go off, but you will know by the bloated packet.

Real buffalo mozzarella won't, in fact it I've eaten it 6 months past the date, and it was great.

It does get creamier with age, which I like.

Tom

One farmer down the road keeps lots of buffalos and makes great mozzarella- sold under the name of Bufflone. But the one past the date is Galbani- in sealed pouch with 3 separate pouches inside.

If it looks like poop and smells like poop, then it's poop..

But it looks and smells like cheese then eat it. Easy

If you don't like your visitors, serve it up (but don't eat it yourself). Otherwise I would chuck it.

Oh, I know the ones you mean. I found one of those in the back of my fridge once that was nearly a year out of date (don't ask). I opened it, still looked and smelled like cheese, just somehow... cheesier. So I ate it. It tasted like a nice Provolone, but with a creamier mozzarella-y texture. Very nice indeed. If we could spare the fridge space (and if Mr. MathNut weren't so horrified at the thought ) I'd be tempted to make a habit of that.

Really??? Funny, I always thought that mozzarella di buffala started by being milky-creamy, and then turned hard and chewy as it got old?

ahahah ok you've won- I'll keep it until both lots of visitors have gone (they are all lovely so won't try it on them) and then I will open the pack and have a good sniff and decide. Could do with losing a few pounds, so if it all goes wrong- it will help me on the way.

Any ideas on what to do with it more interesting than just slicing and eating with tomatoes and basil. Please?

Hope you all get to taste our local Val-de-Travers Bufflone one day- we love having the herds of buffalos round here

Pizza, lasagna, "greek" salad substituting mozzarella for feta, cannelloni, send it to me

Wouldn't mind local mozzarella, today's dinner ironically was Caprese salad with olives and baguette on the side, with choc mousse for dessert.