Is my frozen chicken ok to use?

[Jeekinz]

Originally Posted by jennyema

Good grief! Dinner Plans??? They are meant to be changed. And often.

I've gone from making beef stew to coq au vin to chicken marsala in my head, all this morning.

But after the chili sauce thread I've decided to make OL BLUE'S MEATLOAF!

Or tettrazini? Or alfredo? Hmmmmmmm........

Ever do that while food shopping? You look in your cart and you have half the store in it.......and none of it makes any sense. Then you settle on something like fish sticks.

[suziquzie]

I do that all the time! I have my thoughts on what to make for the week, then I get overwhelmed with great ideas and have a drink instead!

[Chopstix]

At a dinner, my girlfriend served her guest durian (an exotic tropical fruit) that's been frozen for at least 6 months in her no-frost freezer. The guest was the only one who partook of the durian. There was no noticeable deterioration in the fruit's texture or smell. He later fell violently ill and was hospitalized for food poisoning. My friend is mortified by this experience to this day. She had to baby sit the man's children while his wife took care of him in the hospital for a few days.

And this was fruit, not salmonella-conducive chicken meat.

While admittedly the durian was not vacuum-packed, it was still wrapped well enough that there was no apparent freezer burn.

This is just a cautionary true tale about how food can deteriorate even while frozen, and how an ounce of prevention can go a long way.

[Chopstix]

Originally Posted by mozart

The point you are missing, Chopstix, is that there is no difference in potential for food poisoning between a week old frozen chicken breast and a 2 year old frozen chicken breast.

Whatever condition the chicken was in when put in the freezer is.....well.......frozen in time

Mozart, my cautionary tale above about the durian might hopefully give you something to think about.

[pacanis]

Originally Posted by suziquzie

I do that all the time! I have my thoughts on what to make for the week, then I get overwhelmed with great ideas and have a drink instead!

And after a few of those frozen pizza sounds pretty good

[suziquzie]

Ok now you're temping me to ditch the -inis for a martini and go get a pizza out!!!

[Jeekinz]

Originally Posted by suziquzie

Ok now you're temping me to ditch the -inis for a martini and go get a pizza out!!!

If it's real old, start a new thread.

[suziquzie]

It may be refreshing to have a "questionable pizza" thread as opposed to poultry.

[GB]

Chopstix, how do you know it was the durian that caused the food poisoning? Food poisoning often takes a couple of days to come on. How do you know it was not from something the guest ate the day before or the day before that?

If food goes into the freezer fine then it will come out of the freezer fine as long as it remained frozen. That is unless there is cross contamination. For instance, if you take something out of the freezer and cut it with a knife that was not cleaned properly then that food will now be contaminated. Freezing for any length of time will not make something unsafe to eat.

[sattie]

Or maybe the durian was contaminated to start with? Yea, I can't say that you could blame the freezer on that.