out of date chicken

Edwardia

Personally, speaking as a college-trained ex chef I wouldn't take the risk because it's not like supermarket chickens have a date on them saying when they were killed. There's no way for consumers to know how long they have been in cold stores before arriving in the supermarket.

kitschkitty

frugal_shopper wrote: »

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.

.

My point was that if the OP hadn't even opened the package the rank smell that would greet them when they did would soon put them off!

I already stated I would not eat it that far past it's use by date.

yangptangkipperbang

"ASDA MINI-CHICKEN RAW BREAST FILLETS, £2.28

A week after its ‘use by’ date stamp, the pack in my fridge is inflated with a foul-smelling bacterial gas. Dr Dinsdale says that, on his samples, this was even the case on the chicken’s ‘use by’ date. Cooking the meat will kill the bacteria.
Not pleasant: The chicken breast did produce a foul-smelling gas, but was still safe to eat. Cooking will kill any bacteria
Dr Dinsdale explains: ‘The chicken was safe to eat, and I cooked and ate it, although the “off” odour in the chicken was noticeable. Most people would, rightly, be guided by their noses and not eat this.’
My nose and I agree, so we decline the chicken."

Whole article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1392231/Food-past-use-date-Still-perfectly-safe-eat-according-Tom-Rawstorne.html

There was a TV programme similar to this a couple of years ago. Some of the stuff the man ate was absolutely disgusting - he didn't even get an upset tummy let alone food poisoning !

geordie_joe

frugal_shopper wrote: »

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.

Originally Posted by 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..

frugal_shopper wrote: »

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.

I'm confused, can you eat it up to 7 days after you cook it or just 2?

If you cook it on it's best before date, can you eat it up to 7 days after you cooked it, or just 2 days after it's use by date?

frugal_shopper_2

geordie_joe wrote: »

I'm confused, can you eat it up to 7 days after you cook it or just 2?

If you cook it on it's best before date, can you eat it up to 7 days after you cooked it, or just 2 days after it's use by date?

Raw chicken should be ok to cook 2 days after the use-by date if it is has been stored correctly ie; it has been kept refrigerated, it didn't spend hours sat in an overheated car on the way back from the supermarket etc...

Cooked chicken can be stored in the fridge for 7 days from the date it is cooked, even if it had been on the use-by date or a couple of days afterwards when it was cooked. The cooking process kills off bacteria present on the raw chicken & you have a new product (cooked chicken) which keeps for 7 days.

So you could cook chicken that was 2 days past the use-by date then store that cooked chicken in the fridge for a further 7 days.

stephen77

geordie_joe wrote: »

I'm confused, can you eat it up to 7 days after you cook it or just 2?

If you cook it on it's best before date, can you eat it up to 7 days after you cooked it, or just 2 days after it's use by date?

frugal shopper is saying.
If your chicken has a use by date of 8th of dec. It SHOULD be fine on the 10th to eat. If you cook this chicken and chill it back down to under 5c with in 4 hours you could eat this chicken on the 17th of dec.

generally super markets add a use by date of 2 days shorter than its mircobiollogical tested for on products with a medium length shelf life.
I say generally as some are only tested for 1 day longer if the a very short shelf life. Being a consumer your not know what these products are.
The extra 2 day is to build a little safety margin in and does not reflect quality.

Also we do not know the who the OP is. They could have a cast iron stomach. THey may have old and have been ill. The rules have to cover everyone.

C_Mababejive

As per post #3,my cold chicken leftovers from last Sunday arrived in my butty box bread rolls yesterday and very tasty too. Nothing to report so far...apart from that the Tesco Stollen i am currently munching with a mug of tea is highly recommended.

Lugh_Chronain

My advice would be to heed frugal_shopper and stephen77's advice. It is advisable to cook raw chicken within two days of buying. However, the risk of food poisoning can be avoided by cooking meat thoroughly within this timescale.

Campylobacter has already been pointed out though let us reiterate, the UK’s most common cause of bacterial food poisoning is campylobacter and most raw chicken sold in the UK actually contains the campylobacter bacteria. Campylobacter is estimated to cause 300,000 cases of food poisoning annually though only around 70 of these cases are fatal each year. All the same, is it worth the risk, are you willing to play lottery with your health?

And lets no forget, the typical symptoms are nausea, diarrhoea, and vomiting (although vomiting does not always occur).

And if symptoms are severe, dehydration can occur. Also, severe dehydration, if this occurs, is a medical emergency and immediate medical attention will be needed. Mild dehydration is common and is usually easily reversed by drinking lots of fluids, however, severe dehydration can be fatal unless quickly treated because the organs of your body need a certain amount of fluid to function.

And if you look it up as I did you'll find symptoms that occur from dehydration can include tiredness, dizziness or light-headedness, headache, muscular cramps, passing little urine, a dry mouth and tongue, weakness, and becoming irritable.

Severe symptoms are profound apathy, weakness, confusion, rapid heart rate, coma, and producing very little urine. And remember, severe dehydration is a medical emergency and immediate medical attention will be needed.

And believe me, I know what I'm talking about when I mention dehydration, I've suffered it and I can tell you I wouldn't want to experience it again. And it wasn't severe either though was bad enough. Some of the symptoms I experienced were severe tiredness, dizziness and light-headedness from what I remember. I felt like I was going to pass out every time I got up to use the toilet. I had an extreme bout of flu, and when I mean flu I mean flu, I was throwing up frequently and also had a bad case of diarrhoea which explains why I was suffering from dehydration. I was loosing a lot of fluids due to frequent vomiting and diarrhoea. This is one of the reasons why I mention the symptoms above, why I looked them up and posted them here for you to see what I mean. Though I also wanted to point out the severe symptoms specificly.

And you may not even know you have been infected by the campylobacter bacteria either as symptoms tend to come on within 2-5 days of eating contaminated food. Sometimes the time period before symptoms appear can be as long as 10 days.

Maybe I'm being a little extreme here though personally I wouldn't risk it. Why put yourself at potential risk of food poisoning? Why would anybody want to put themselves through this, even what I experienced, even though what I experienced wasn't food poising? Still I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Is it worth the risk?

Lip_Stick

5 days over for raw chicken - I'd put it straight in the bin even though I don't strictly stick to use by dates.

Lugh_Chronain

And nor do I. And as I have pointed out previously as mentioned also on this website:

Use by dates are for foods that go off quickly, such as smoked fish, meat and ready-prepared salads. Such items shouldn't be eaten after the date even if they look and smell fine.

Best before dates signify when the item is no longer in optimum quality. Except in the case of eggs, they do not signify when food has gone off but can usually still be eaten with no ill-effects afterwards.

Martin also points out: "Best before labels usually have nothing to do with whether food is safe to eat, it's just a manufacturer's view of optimum quality. Plus it's an easy way to keep us buying more food.

"Unlike use by dates there's no rule saying you can't eat food after the best before date. In fact, you're still allowed to sell it for consumption and many people can buy perfectly healthy food at heavy discounts this way.

"We should only have use by dates on food when appropriate which ARE for health reasons and 'sell by' dates on food for manufacturers. For everything else we should use our eyes and nose."

Though in this case I'd be more cautious.