Is my raw chicken spoiled?

[Callisto in NC]

I am guessing you missed my second post, #4, as you aren't the only one that suggested taking it back. I did not immediately suggest taking it back as he already started cooking it, and around here once you start cooking it they will not take it back.
Also our old fridge was like yours. The vent was just above the top shelf and it registered at 35.5, while the bottom shelf registered 42.7. Even though heat rises, the top shelf is right next to the cooling source. For this reason we also kept our meats on the top shelf, we just put them on a plate to be safe. The shelves were all spill resistant as well, so it took a lot of fluid to fill them up and flow over the sides and down to other shelves.
Our new fridge has a meat drawer in the middle with its own vent that has an adjustable temp setting.
It also had digital controls, my freezer is set to 0 and my fridge is set to 35. I am probably overdoing it, but I have lots of liquids in the fridge and I like how cold they stay.

I'm still stuck trying to figure out why Darrel Waltrip (DW) is suggesting things here. I like our stores, even if you have cooked them (as sometimes it takes cooking to make food odors come out or the meat looks wrong after cooking) . We have great stores for the most part here.

 

[GB]

the problem is simply this, the Freezing point between 2 items may differ, and so something on the Top that freezes will lead you to Think that it`s Colder, this may well Not be the case.
it Will be that it has a higher freezing point though.

think Salt on and icy road.
both may be Well below 0c, but it will still melt and run away down a drain making it safe to drive again, Right up to about -15c IIRC.

you can put Vodka in a freezer and it won`t freeze, is your freezer broken? nope, it`s just that Vodak`s (Ethanol) freezing point is much Lower than water, it`s still well below 0c though


That is what misleads many people.

I have had this happen with the same items though. I have had cans of soda in my fridge where the cans on the top in the back have frozen and the cans on the bottom at the front have remained liquid.

 

[Maverick2272]

I'm still stuck trying to figure out why Darrel Waltrip (DW) is suggesting things here.

 

[Maverick2272]

And we haven't even discussed if the OP was having salad or not!

Just make sure to cook the chicken first before putting it in the salad or you will have to toss... er... trash it.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I'm amazed that some of you poor people even bother eating chicken at all. It seems to have become such a life-or-death adventurous trial - lol!!!

 

[mozart]

I find it so funny when people say that no one has ever gotten ill from anything they have cooked. How do you know??? Illnesses from from food can take days to show symptoms and the symptoms can be as mild as headache or diarrhea. I don't know about you guys, but I don't call my friends and share with them when I have diarrhea.

Sure you can be careful washing your chicken. You can put layers and layers of paper towels over every surface you can reach, but water acts like water. What I mean by that is water splashes and you don't need a little kid in a bathtub to make that happen. Water comes out of the faucet and hits a surface. It does not just then simply slide down the drain in the same direction it was going. Some, even most might, but some splashes, even if you do not see it happening. The things that will make you sick are invisible to the naked eye. Water molecules carrying these toxins, spores, or what have you are not visible either. You may think nothing is splashing because you don't see anything, but that does not mean that is true. Is the risk high that something bad will happen? Probably not. That does not mean it is completely safe either though.

I agree 100%, GB.

I can never understand why some folks insist on becoming sarcastic when other impart information about the SAFEST way to do something. No one is telling you have to do it that way. We don't know how you prepare your chicken.

But there isn't a lot of logic to wetting your chicken just so you can dry it off again with 30 cents worth of paper towels (Which by the way are now also potentially contaminated as you drip them across the floor on the way to the garbage)

What we do know logically is that washing chicken potentially puts bacteria from the chicken in the sink. That is a fact. And that washing chicken does little to decontaminate a contaminated chicken. All it does it spread whatever bacteria is present to the, sink and perhaps the counter.

An hour later, you put something into the sink. It is now cross contaminated. You reach into take it out. Now your hands are cross contaminated.Then you grab a raw carrot for a snack, and a couple of days later you get sick.

Of course, you haven't got a clue why.

Unless you sanitize your sink and counters throughly after washing your chicken, you are taking unnecessary risks. That is your right. But why scoff at people who choose to follow a safer procedure?

 

[GrillingFool]

Goodness, reading the bad chicken threads makes me wonder why it is sold at all!

(he says, tongue in cheek, fully understanding the objective of DC and food safety
threads, where the last word should be a good one, so...)

Don't eat chicken, or any other food, if you have doubts as to its safety. Best to err
on the side of caution.

 

[suziquzie]

I propose a food safety boxing ring thread. Or Ultimate fighhting... we could call it the DC smackdown.
This could include warm turkeys, tossed (into the air) salads, old soup, heck even mayo and chicken thighs!
I go away for an hour to work out and I get to read a book when I get back. How fun!
I hope the OP was ready for all this.

 

[pacanis]

Goodness, reading the bad chicken threads makes me wonder why it is sold at all!

I hear ya!
I don't think I'll ever purchase it again.... cuz gawd forbid I handle a raw chicken with my hands, like by putting a rub on it.....
I wouldn't know where to wash my hands where the water flowing over them wouldn't be misdirected instead of going straight down the drain before my anti-microbial soap has a chance to do its thing.

Hard to believe I handled raw chicken every day, two times a day, for 3-1/2 years And that's before I had an automatic soap dispenser and a faucet I could turn on with my arm!

 

[pacanis]

Oh, and suzi, I get to be Kimbo Slice.....
lol

 

[Maverick2272]

And in this corner, weighing at at a mere 12lbs, it's Mr. Kluck Kluck the Fighting Rooster trained by the fabulous Mr. Salmonella!!

Dry rub and BBQ to follow the fight...

Don't ask what will follow that....

 

[suziquzie]

I don't know much about the sport but that's one big dude!
My husband works with Brock Lesnor's Dad.. I guess I could send him? Brock, not DH. He's a big dude too but err..... not quite so shapely? Unless that shape is a potato....
I think I'm going to go make my properly refrigerated chicken parts dinner now. After I cover the kitchen with a protective layer of cling wrap.

 

[Maverick2272]

It's all the additives and preservatives adding weight

 

[suziquzie]

And in this corner, weighing at at a mere 12lbs, it's Mr. Kluck Kluck the Fighting Rooster trained by the fabulous Mr. Salmonella!!

Dry rub and BBQ to follow the fight...

Don't ask what will follow that....

Tossing them ALL out of the ring will be Mr. Chef Salad!
I really must stop now.

 

[CharlieD]

While I agree that heat rises, I think there are other factors at play too. I have had things freeze in the top back of my fridge while things in the bottom front have not frozen. I do not think that just because heat rises we can always say that the top of the fridge will be warmer than the bottom.

That means only one thing, your refrigerator is not working proparly. I just checked with my friend who is refrigerator repair mechanick. And he told me that refrigerator should be colder on the bottom.

 

[VeraBlue]

It sat out, it wasn't in the warmest spot in the fridge, it smelled funky, and it's going to slowly cook for 10 hours????????

I'm sure others have told you that it's probably something you should have tossed. Slow cooking chicken isn't what I'd call a great idea, either, especially when it's suspect. You've got that famous 2 hour window to be below the 140 range. Slow cooking, especially 10 hours could leave you way outside that range. Once you get above that, do you really want to eat something that's been heating/holding for that long, considered how it smelled?

By this time, you've probably eaten it already. Personally, I don't think that would have been wise.

 

[pacanis]

I don't know much about the sport but that's one big dude!
My husband works with Brock Lesnor's Dad.. I guess I could send him? Brock, not DH. He's a big dude too but err..... not quite so shapely? Unless that shape is a potato....
I think I'm going to go make my properly refrigerated chicken parts dinner now. After I cover the kitchen with a protective layer of cling wrap.

To tell you the truth I just heard of him today on some ESPN radio show this morning. I googled him and watched him beat some other guy's face in after falling down a few times first.
And to keep this on topic,

well,

I guess I can't think of anything to keep this on topic