A man with a “titanium paunch” has racked up more than four million views on TikTok after experimenting with how far he can extend the shelf life of food.
Gavin Wren, 44, from Forest Gate, east London, has eaten a fried egg that was 73 days past its best before date – while another the same age had turned green.
He’s also mocked hummus, which expired 17 days — and only stopped after a microbiologist found bacteria in it.
And he recently posted a video of himself eating a large spoonful of yogurt, 31 days past the expiration date.
One of Gavin’s most famous experiments was eating an egg, which he fried two and a half months past its sell-by date.
Gavin (pictured here with outdated chicken) warns his followers against copying his stunts
Gavin made it his mission to highlight the problem of food waste. Britain throws away 9.5 million tonnes of food every year, despite the fact that 8.4 million people in the UK live in food poverty. He recently shared a video of himself eating yogurt, 31 days past the expiration date
In his popular egg challenge, Gavin kept four eggs in the fridge for more than two months, then tested them in water to see if they would sink — an indicator they were still edible
One of the eggs was essentially green goo, though Gavin insisted it didn’t smell bad
For his chicken challenge, Gavin kept the chicken in the fridge several days past its expiration date and examined it each day to see if it had changed color or texture, or had started smelling.
On the third day he noticed the chicken had become slimy – and reasonably refused to eat it because he didn’t want to get sick.
While it was fun, Gavin actually started posting the bizarre challenges to highlight how much food is wasted unnecessarily.
Britain throws away 9.5 million tonnes of food every year, despite the fact that 8.4 million people in the UK live in food poverty.
He said: “I’m shocked at the amount of food we’re wasting.
“I grew up in a family where if something looked and smelled good, they just ate it. Maybe that gave me a titanium belly.
“But the point of the challenges isn’t to shock or upset anyone, it’s to show people that food can last a lot longer than you’d expect.
“People always ask me if I’ve been sick and I swear to God I’ve never had an upset stomach or any kind of nausea.
“I am absolutely satisfied with all of them.”
Gavin, 40, from Forest Gate, east London, and his partner Uli Ap, 41, an artist
Occasionally, Gavin will eat foods that are fresh out of the oven and still within their sell by date
Food lover Gavin also advises organizations on how to make food production more sustainable.
Gavin’s day job also involves working with food – advising organizations on how to make food production more sustainable.
But he’s not a food safety expert and admitted some of his 54,000 followers on TikTok are worried about him, saying: “I get a lot of messages from people asking me if I’m still alive if I don’t post one.” Day.’
On its website, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) states that best-by dates are “about quality, not safety.”
However, an expiration date is “about safety” and it is recommended not to eat, cook or freeze food past the expiration date.
Narriman Looch, head of the FSA’s Foodborne Diseases Unit, said: “Never eat food past the expiration date, even if it looks and smells good, as it could make you very ill.”
But Gavin is undeterred.
His first experiment in February 2022 involved four eggs and became a hit on TikTok.
He said: “I’ve known for many years that eggs last much longer than their sell-by date. I found that out about 10 years ago.
“In my opinion, eggs are a food that people are a bit scared of. I don’t think anyone would want to eat eggs that don’t have eggs.’
Gavin, who films for this TikTok channel, says he “enjoys” the challenges and uses them to highlight the serious issue of food waste
Part of his online mission is to help people learn more about food and where it comes from
His TikTok followers, he said, “were really invested in the journey of these eggs,” and watched as he repeatedly put two of them, jokingly named Oswald and Olivia, in water past their sell-by dates to see when they would float – which would indicate that they were lazy.
On May 12th, the eggs were 73 days past their sell-by date and Olivia and Oswald had started to swim, but one of the spare eggs he kept in the fridge wasn’t floating as much and was still below the surface of the water.
Gavin said, “I opened it up to check and one of the floating eggs had turned into green goo, but funnily enough it didn’t smell.”
But after cracking open the not fully buoyant spare egg and smelling it, he decided it was “perfectly fine.”
“I fried it and it was delicious,” he added.
When it came to stale hummus, Gavin became concerned when it reached 14 days past its expiration date and sent samples to a lab for testing, though he still tasted it for three days.
He said: “I got in touch with a microbiologist who ran some tests on a sample I sent.
“She found bacteria and advised me not to eat them.”
He took her advice and quit, but still doesn’t feel like the hummus-growing bacteria has defeated his cause.
“I ate it every day for a fortnight before that and felt good,” he added.
Sometimes Gavin goes too far – he disgusts his viewers on TikTok with what he puts in his mouth
His number of TikTok followers has increased massively since he started posting his crazy experiments
However, the experiments that began in 2020 weren’t the beginning of Gavin on TikTok.
With five years experience as a food writer and a Masters in Food Policy, which he earned from the City University of London in 2018, he wanted to tell people where food comes from when he started posting as @gavin.wren.
He said: “I started posting videos in early 2020 and I was really just messing around.
“I was just trying to help people figure out where their food came from and educate them about food.”
But his stale food challenges have doubled his following in the last three months alone.
While Gavin isn’t advocating that people risk their health by eating food that’s past its sell-by or use-by date, he does urge people to use their senses and look and smell their food before throwing it out.
He added: “This is how I live my life.”