out of date chicken

ktj

Hi, I've just discovered that the chicken pieces I was going to cook for tea to-night are 5 days past their use by date!!!!!!! (I must have put the wrong pack in the freezer). Dare I do anything with them other than bin them??? I'd be interested to know if anyone has used such out of date stuff and survived the experience?? Thanks for any advice that you can give. kje.

kitschkitty

not 5 days out of date!

have you opened them and smelled them yet.....

C_Mababejive

Eat them... I have cold cooked chicken that was left over from last Sundays dinner and it will be going in my butty box for work on the morrow in some sandwiches..

useless_git_requires_wife

I used cooked chicken that was 5/6 days (didn't even bother to notice how far) out of date in a korma tonight, which is now resting inside my stomach........for the time being at least.

ktj

Hi, Just to clarify - it's raw uncooked chicken! I've now stuck it in the freezer until I decide if I dare risk cooking it. kje.

marvin

What did we do before M&S invented use by dates?

frugal_shopper_2

kitschkitty wrote: »

have you opened them and smelled them yet.....

The sniff test & visual inspection are not that reliable for raw poultry as the smell is caused by pseudomonads, acinetobacters, moxarellas & clostridia. Sliminess is caused by pseudomonas fragi, leuconostoc mesentroides & bacillus subtilis. Green discolouration is caused by lactobacillus viridescens.
None of these bacteria are necessarily going to do you any harm (just think about how bad a pheasant looks & smells before you cook it). It is campylobacter jejuni, salmonella, clostridium perfringens & Staphylococcus aureus which are going to cause you problems.
Campylobacter & salmonella will almost cetainly of been present when the chicken was packed & the use-by date indicates when it is anticipated they will of multiplied to unsafe levels. If the chicken was thoroughly cooked then it should be ok to consume up to 2 days beyond the use-by date assuming it has been stored correctly but that is as far as you can push it.

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Eat them... I have cold cooked chicken that was left over from last Sundays dinner and it will be going in my butty box for work on the morrow in some sandwiches..

The major difference there is that you have cooked the chicken which means that it will be fine for 7 days after cooking if kept refrigerated.

easy

Well, I wouldn't have frozen it now.

Get iot out of the freezer NOW before it actually freezes, and take a good sniff of it.

If it smells rank don't use it. if it smells like raw chicken (albeit slightly strong raw chicken) then use it, but cook it well _ personally I would use it in a casserole or curry, where it can get a good cooking all the way thru.

In this house we eat lots of stuff after it's use-by dates, I have no problem with it at all. DS (who is 13 years old) has NEVER had any sort of sickness/tummy trouble in his life, and NEVER falls victim to sickness bugs that go round school.

Just use your nose and a little common sense, you'll be fine.

Enterprise_1701C

There are two things that I will NEVER eat beyond the use by date, chicken and fish, too much of a risk in my opinion. I always thinnk with a lot of other things that there seems to be about 3 days leeway, and whether goods are in date or out of date I always have a quick sniff before I use, but with chicken and fish I don't even bother with the sniff test, it simply goes in the bin.

prettyflamingo

i would be careful with chicken to be honest, no probs with using frozen chicken past the length of time you should freeze it for but i think raw uncooked chicken is too much of a risk.

sweetilemon

I would bin it! Too risky!