# Is this chicken good? Need answer fast **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522 "2024-04-19T21:17:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/21 "2024-04-20T03:59:35Z")
Sub zero is the way to go. That vacuum is great keeping the cold air in. I don’t know how the machinery works. I just know it does. I don’t normally keep raw meat very long. We have a buy it today use it in two theory around here. And a freezer or two full of stuff. Thawing always is an issue. So far we’ve had no illness or bellyaches from meals cooked at home. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/22 "2024-04-20T04:01:22Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Speaking of biohazards …! 😲 I’d never seen one before. You always hear about the “don’t open swollen cans.” Many thoughts, put it on ebay, ask the extension service… it was like a grotesque, a one-off. Unknown ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/23 "2024-04-20T04:10:48Z")
I’ve seen glass jars explode with germy things. I assume a can could only take so much stress before it exploded. Dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/24 "2024-04-20T04:28:08Z")
granted glass is a liquid, or never cures, or whatever. one can saber the seam line of a bottle of Krug champagne . but a commercially canned, can of tomatoes, and a Cento can (sorry Lidia) of “San Marzano”. and it was around the time the Cento cans went from full “DOP” with the serial number, to “These are San Marzano” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/25 "2024-04-20T07:45:19Z")
The correlation between ‘smells bad’ and ‘is unsafe to eat’ is loose and unreliable. Most of the pathogens that cause food poisoning are not detectable by any odour. ‘Trust your nose’ worked as a rule of thumb before humans invented refrigeration, largely because when you’re not refrigerating meat, all of the timescales for spoil age and smell are greatly accelerated, so everything (smell and danger) all happens at once. Not so once refrigeration is in the mix as not all bacteria are equally affected by temperature. If it was true that you can smell the presence of food poisoning pathogens, _ **nobody would ever get food poisoning.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/26 "2024-04-20T07:51:11Z")
Got that. I usually believe just trust the date. Eat as fresh as you can. But… chicken has a particularly stinky smell when nearing spoilage. Once you smell it it’s never forgotten. If your nose is in good working order. If. No allergies or colds. No disorders that make odor detection difficult for you. Not about trusting your gut. It’s about trusting your nose. Your gut will thank you for being careful. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/27 "2024-04-20T09:16:58Z")
Oh, definitely, ‘smells bad’ quite likely _does_ mean ‘is bad’, it’s just that ‘smells OK’ **doesn’t** necessarily mean ‘is OK’. You can trust your nose when it’s detecting something, but not when it’s detecting nothing. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/28 "2024-04-22T03:52:58Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I look at it this way: what would you pay NOT to have a stomach upset, diarrhea or food poisoning? > If that’s more value to you than replacing the food, then discard the old stuff and buy new. Excellent Advice in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/29 "2024-04-22T04:52:27Z")
The organisms that cause food poisoning, especially in prepared and cooked foods, are usually not smellable or tastable. If something is DEFINITELY spoiled, it will be hard to mistake for anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/30 "2024-04-22T07:36:27Z")
Sure, if it’s just rotten, then it will also be unsafe. The problem is, ‘not obviously rotten’ does not necessarily equate to ‘safe’. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/31 "2024-04-22T08:02:13Z")
Not specifically related to chicken – and that question has been settled to the satisfaction of the OP who enjoyed their chicken dinner – but on the general topic of spoilage and best-by dates, common sense and some internet research reveals a very wide variance in how far you can go beyond expiry dates. It depends on the food item and storage conditions. Eggs, for instance, are usually good for weeks past their best-by date. Dried pasta can be good for two years or more past its best-by date. The other day, for instance, I wanted to use up some rosé pasta sauce and thought that flat egg noodles would be just thing to have with it. I found some at the back of the cupboard – expiry date: November, 2022! The internet informed me they would likely be just fine, as indeed they were. OTOH, don’t try that with ramen noodles. They’re infused with oil which does go rancid at some point beyond the expiry date, so even though they appear to be dry I wouldn’t mess with them. You can see this in the fact that when you open a pack of ramen, it has a distinct and pleasant aroma, which would be not so pleasant if it was well past its expiry date. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/32 "2024-04-22T08:19:51Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > If you don’t smell nasty odors. Or see obviously change in the way it should look. > Cook it til really done. > > First bite tastes completely ok. It’s ok. I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/33 "2024-04-22T08:22:06Z")
In very broad terms, the ‘good beyond date’ length of a product is proportional to the duration of the initial shelf life declaration; products with a ‘best before’ that was never more than a few days when sold, are only good for a short period of time past that date. Products with an initial best before date that is years in the future, are usually good for years past that date - in the case of products with years-long expiry, it might be more about expiry of the packaging than the product - it’s not in the interest of the manufacturer or vendor for faded or superseded designs of packaging to be hanging around on shelves - the expiry date provokes stock rotation ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/34 "2024-04-22T09:06:25Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > and that question has been settled to the satisfaction of the OP who enjoyed their chicken dinner , went to bed, and hasn’t been heard from since (2 days ago at time of writing). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/35 "2024-04-22T10:33:53Z")
Yeah, Salmonella can take a week to incubate (although if the food was thoroughly cooked, the onset of symptoms would be much quicker if it’s poisoning from residual toxins, not infection by live pathogens). I hope the OP is fine of course. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/36 "2024-04-22T11:39:56Z")
Yes, salmonella is more a risk from undercooked chicken, or careless handling of chicken that allows it to leave germs around the kitchen. You won’t catch salmonella directly from well-cooked chicken, no matter how long the chicken sat around. It would never have occurred to me to look at the the date on a box of pasta. I suppose I’d throw it away if it smelled stale or was full of moths. I’ve eaten bottle olives that were a couple of years past their “best by” date. I opened the bottle, which had been in the back of the fridge. They looked and smelled fine. A ate a couple and they tasted delicious. I ate the rest over a week or two. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/37 "2024-04-22T12:06:24Z")
That made me laugh. All is well It’s turned into a very interesting discussion on how people approach food safety. I’m generally not a worrier at all, though my wife is. The only reason I asked is that I couldn’t read the use by, and since we’d already had it 5 days I didn’t know if we were 5 days past the date (unlikely, I know). Regarding how sacrosanct use-by dates are, I’m personally pretty liberal. I have NO idea how food expiry is established. I do know about pharmaceuticals, and very often the expiry is set by the limits of what is economically viable. For instance, if you’re making Aspirin, you need to do a stability study past what you’re going to claim (ie, for a 3 year claim you’ll probably run studies to 4 years). And once you make that claim, every time you make the product you’ll need to put some samples on stability and test them out to 4 years. So (say) a ten year claim will require MASSIVELY more costs and resources than a three year claim. Many products are just fine after 3 years, but we generally don’t want to be on the hook resource-wise for a claim longer than that. That does NOT mean some products don’t degrade over a shorter timeline. Without seeing the data you really can’t tell. I know it’s a tangent, but I’d be curious how food compares. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/38 "2024-04-22T13:13:47Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes, salmonella is more a risk from undercooked chicken, or careless handling of chicken that allows it to leave germs around the kitchen. You won’t catch salmonella directly from well-cooked chicken, no matter how long the chicken sat around. The toxins it produces are pretty heat-stable though (I think - or maybe it’s E.coli - certainly some bacterial toxins are) - so you can still get plenty sick, even if it’s cooked to death. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/39 "2024-04-22T13:16:40Z")
The dates have to include a safety margin and I’d guess that’s pretty much a percentage of the expected lifetime of the product (it would make no sense to set the safety margin as a finite number of days or weeks, since for some products, that would consume the entire product lifetime) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522/40 "2024-04-22T13:25:43Z")
I think you are thinking of Staphylococcus aureus [Bacterial Food Poisoning - Food Technology & Processing Food Technology & Processing](https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/food-technology/bacterial-food-poisoning/#:~:text=More%20than%2090%20percent%20of,and%20Entero%2Dpathogenic%20Escherichia%20coli). > When _S. aureus_ is allowed to grow in foods, it can produce a toxin that causes illness. Although cooking destroys the bacteria, the toxin produced is heat stable and may not be destroyed. The good news is that while that is unpleasant, it tends to be self-limiting. Serious consequences are very rare. [https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/diseases/staphylococcal.html#:~:text=Staph%20food%20poisoning%20is%20characterized,Severe%20illness%20is%20rare](https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/diseases/staphylococcal.html#:~:text=Staph%20food%20poisoning%20is%20characterized,Severe%20illness%20is%20rare). > - Staph food poisoning is characterized by a sudden start of nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. Most people also have diarrhea. > - Symptoms usually develop within 30 minutes to 8 hours after eating or drinking an item containing Staph toxin, and last no longer than 1 day. Severe illness is rare. Given my track record with getting for poisoning from eating dicey foods (once, and it wasn’t food i stored or prepared) I’m willing to continue risking it for myself. I’m more careful when cooking for others, and extremely careful when i work in a commercial kitchen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-chicken-good-need-answer-fast/1000522.md?page=3)