# Whole chicken, been in fridge a week uncooked. Still good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171 "2012-08-21T15:10:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/21 "2012-08-23T13:20:44Z")
The whiff test is all well and good, but the smell of bad chicken will knock you _down_. I try not to smell it when I can avoid it. A chicken isn’t that expensive, anyway, that I would take a chance with my health. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/22 "2012-08-23T13:30:07Z")
It should be fine. Go ahead and eat it. You don’t even have to bother cooking it. Or, you could just use common sense to tell you that if you have to ask, it’s not worth chancing it. It’s just a chicken. Apparently Americans throw away half of all the food we produce. So unless you’re throwing away chickens on a regular basis, you aren’t even keeping pace. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/23 "2012-08-23T13:39:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It should be fine. Go ahead and eat it. You don’t even have to bother cooking it. > > Or, you could just use common sense to tell you that if you have to ask, it’s not worth chancing it. It’s just a chicken. Apparently Americans throw away half of all the food we produce. So unless you’re throwing away chickens on a regular basis, you aren’t even keeping pace. I said ‘chicken’, not ‘snipe’. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/24 "2012-08-23T14:16:44Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I said ‘chicken’, not ‘snipe’. Snipe is always good to eat once you get some salt on it’s tail 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/25 "2012-08-23T14:23:21Z")
Take that chicken out back and shoot it. I don’t care if it’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/26 "2012-08-23T15:27:25Z")
What’s the sell-by date on the package? If it’s within that time, I’d use it. ---
**Author:** ![stolatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@stolatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolatt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/27 "2012-08-23T16:56:44Z")
My advice is never ever play food roulette with chicken. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/28 "2012-08-23T17:18:56Z")
i must be misunderstanding something. raw food last longer than a week in our fridge. are we talking about the part of the fridge that is not the freezer? that would make sense but, who keeps raw meat outside the freezer? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/29 "2012-08-23T18:14:43Z")
??? There is a point at which raw chicken smells _good_??? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/30 "2012-08-23T18:18:50Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i must be misunderstanding something. raw food last longer than a week in our fridge. are we talking about the part of the fridge that is not the freezer? that would make sense but, who keeps raw meat outside the freezer? Do you take it straight from the freezer and cook it? I mean, you have to defrost it, and it’s not good to leave it right on the counter to defrost, especially in the hot & humid summer here. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/31 "2012-08-23T19:12:33Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i must be misunderstanding something. raw food last longer than a week in our fridge. are we talking about the part of the fridge that is not the freezer? that would make sense but, who keeps raw meat outside the freezer? Raw meat is fine for a few days in the refrigerator. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/32 "2012-08-23T19:23:38Z")
Tell me there are use by dates on food sold in the states. It’s no good knowing how long it’s been in the fridge if you don’t know how long it was in the shop. Though there’s probably a reason it was cheap. ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/33 "2012-08-23T19:27:24Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I rely on my nose more than I do the date on the package, especially for a food I’m going to cook thoroughly anyway, and haven’t had food poisoning yet. This is my (professional cook) husband’s approach. And we’ve never had food poisoning either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/34 "2012-08-23T19:29:34Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Tell me there are use by dates on food sold in the states. It’s no good knowing how long it’s been in the fridge if you don’t know how long it was in the shop. Though there’s probably a reason it was cheap. For meat it’s usually a sell by date. I won’t buy it unless I know it was put out that day. Even then I’m picky about what I’ll take. You’ve got all the time from the slaughterhouse to the meat packer to the distributor to the store, plus the time whole cuts are in the store before being butchered, and then the time they sit in the open air fridge which is often not that cold. A friend of mine from Argentina can’t understand why we eat meat that wasn’t slaughtered the same day. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/35 "2012-08-23T19:57:03Z")
The smell test is used by the pros, because it works! proper cooking will kill bacteria. Pheaseant were traditionaly hung by the beak until the beak let go at temps higher than a fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171/36 "2012-08-23T20:03:40Z")
> [@badger5149](#): > > The smell test is used by the pros, because it works! proper cooking will kill bacteria. Pheaseant were traditionaly hung by the beak until the beak let go at temps higher than a fridge. What a bizarre piece of trivia 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-chicken-been-in-fridge-a-week-uncooked-still-good/632171.md?page=1)