Raw Chicken Questions

Cafe Society
1

Supposing, hypothetically, that a certain person went to the grocery store last night. And let’s pretend that as this person came into the house the phone was ringing, and then other stuff happened, and so on. And that when whoever this was came down to the kitchen this morning, the groceries were still sitting on the counter. :smack:

Does leaving raw chicken out overnight mean it needs to go? It went straight into the freezer this morning, if that makes a difference. (I mean, it would have, if this were real chicken.)

2

I found this:

“As on any perishable meat, fish or poultry, bacteria can be found on raw or undercooked chicken. They multiply rapidly at temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F (out of refrigeration and before thorough cooking occurs). Freezing doesn’t kill bacteria but they are destroyed by thorough cooking of any food to 160 °F.”

3

So how was the booty call?

4

Four hours is what I have been taught is the absolute limit for food between 40 and 140F.
This often comes up on BBQ websites if an all night cook has the fire go out in the middle of the night.
Better safe than sorry, toss the chicken.

5

When in doubt, throw it out.

Chicken that has gone “off” will smell and taste funny even if fully cooked and all the nasty germs are dead.

6

Yah it needs to be thrown out.

7

I would leave the hypothetical chicken in the hypothetical freezer until trash day, so it doesn’t stink up the hypothetical place – but yeah, if it was on the counter overnight, it would be too risky to eat it.

Hypothetically.

8

I don’t know if this applies in this particular situation, but some bacteria when left to their own devices will produce some really nasty toxins that aren’t destroyed by cooking. One purpose of freezing/refrigerating food is to cause the bacteria to remain dormant until the food is cooked.

9

TWDuke, that makes sense. If it’s safe to eat after cooking, why refrigerate it at all?

10

Hey, you could always feed this hypothetical chicken to that hypothetical cat who hypothetically ate all that hypothetic pot. I mean, he’s got to have a wicked case of the hypothetical muchies.
You know. Hypothetically.

11

Because refrigeration keeps the bad bacteria dormant. If you keep it cold while raw, the bacteria population will be kept to a safe level and they won’t be putting out their toxins that don’t get neutralized by cooking.

12

I did this once but it was from TJ’s. The branch I frequent knows me as a loyal and frequent customer so I took it back, explained what I had done and they let me switch it out.

If they hadn’t taken it back I would have tossed it, though.

13

Thanks, guys. Not exactly what I would have wanted to hear, had I done this, but useful none the less. Next garbage day, out it goes. (Hypothetically.)