DO you find yourself sniffing the food in your fridge just to make sure it isn't 'off'?

As grocery prices rise, no one wants to throw out food unless they really have to.

In fact, the cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30 per cent in the last two years, according to research by consumer body Which?

But as cases of dreaded food poisoning are rising in the UK and US, you still want to be careful when it comes to putting stuff in your mouth.

In the last year, several outbreaks of foodborne pathogens salmonella and listeria have taken place in the UK, leading to at least one death.

However, getting a good whiff of those chicken slices will not actually tell you if they're still good, Prof Matthew Gilmour a microbiologist from the Quadram Institute, said.

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"The microbes [you] might be worried about making [you] sick have no smell," he explained.

"Even if present – and the risk is thankfully relatively low – these bacteria would probably be at such a small amount in the food that any metabolic action (and then odour production) would be entirely imperceptible to our noses," he added.

Similarly, the smell of the food itself is likely to drown out any whiff of bacteria, he added.

But if food is spoiled, your nasal powers may come in handy.

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Food can go off when it's been left for too long or has been in the wrong storage conditions.

"This is one of the reasons why a more appropriate use of the sniff test is to suss out spoiled milk and help limit food waste, rather than throw out milk that might otherwise be safe," Prof Matthew said.

Instead of wasting time shoving your nose in your food, focus your energies on storing them at the right temperature and cooking them for the right amount of time.

"I wouldn’t even trust my nose to tell the difference between a cabernet and shiraz, let alone a campylobacter and salmonella," the expert added.

What are the symptoms of food poisoning?

The first symptoms of food poisoning normally come on about one or two hours after eating contaminated food.

But in some cases, signs can emerge hours, or even weeks, after infection.

The main symptoms include:

• Tummy cramps
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea/feeling sick
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea (which may contain blood or mucus)
• Lack of energy/weakness
• High temperature
• Aching muscles
• Chills

The 3 surprising foods that can give you life-threatening food poisoning

1. Ice cream

When you think of food poisoning, your mind probably jumps to the risks cooked meat from a BBQ.

But it turns out ice cream – a seemingly harmless summer treat -could be one of the worst offenders.

Amreen Bashir, a lecturer in biomedical sciences at Aston University in Birmingham, said any food taken on a picnic poses a food poisoning risk.

"During the summer, more people cook outside at picnics and barbecues, removing the safety a kitchen provides – the sink to wash your hands in, the sterilised counter tops to prepare food on, the thermostat-controlled cooking and refrigeration to kill bacteria," she wrote for The Conversation.

"The usual bacterial suspects include campylobacter, salmonella, E. coli and listeria, all of which thrive in the summer’s warmer temperatures, causing spikes in the number of food poisoning cases reported."

2. Sprouts

Uncooked and lightly cooked sprouts have been linked to more than 30 bacterial outbreaks of deadly bugs.

As recently as 2014, salmonella from sprouts sent 19 people to the hospital in the US.

According to the Food Standards Agency, all types of sprouts -including alfalfa, mung bean, clover and radish sprouts -can spread infection, which is caused by bacterial contamination of their seeds.

3. Salad

Salad – specifically the pre-packaged stuff – poses a big risk to health.

One likely source of contamination is water used feed lettuce fields.

When manure from a nearby feedlot gets into the lettuce irrigation system, the bacteria from an animal's poop may end up in your salad.

According to Secrets of your Supermarket Food, on Channel 5, bagged salad is now the second biggest cause of e-coli.

Doctor Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, said on the documentary: "What's now being realised is that there is a potential infection risk associated with bagged salads.

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"The European Union Foods Standards Agency now actually regards bagged salads as the second most frequent cause of food poisoning."

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