Jar of Uncle Ben's sauce nearly 26 years out of date donated to County Durham food bank

A jar of cooking sauce which went out of date nearly 26 years ago has been donated to a food bank.

Volunteers at Sunderland and County Durham Foodbank were left stunned when they came across the jar of Uncle Ben's Gratins Dauphinoise Cheese & Onion Sauce for Potatoes among the donations which they had received in Chester-le-Street.

The glass jar, label and lid remained in good condition but the sauce - which had a best-before date of 9 June 1998 - had turned grey.

"This is the oldest and most random thing we have ever had," said warehouse manager Jonathan Conlon. "We have got some volunteers who are younger than this jar of cooking sauce, which is crazy.

"We were shocked that it was still in good nick and surprised that it's lasted that long.

"It wasn't even born in 1998, it was born before that. It would have been out of date on the 9 June 1998. This was probably bought or packaged 27 years ago. I googled it and nothing came up online.

"If you don't look at the contents of the jar it looks in good nick. The contents look really grey and pasty. The label is still really clear and the glass jar. The glass isn't damaged and neither is the lid.

"It appears it's been lovingly stored in somebody's kitchen cupboard for a long time without somebody looking at the date.

Fortunately, the mistake was spotted before the sauce could reach anyone's plate. Volunteers at the food bank have seen the funny side but have urged those considering donating to check use-by dates before doing so.

"If people are able to donate and support us that's fantastic," Mr Conlan said. "It's really good that people in the region are so generous.

"If they can check the date of the packaging that would be great. We don't want to put food in the parcel which is already past its use by date."

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