Is my raw chicken spoiled?

[CanadianMeg]

Part of the reason it's recommended to use the lowest point as well is in the event that the packaging leaks for any reason.

 

[GB]

Why am I the only one who thinks "take it back" rather than toss it.

I agree with taking it back, however that would not work in this case as the OP already cooked it.

 

[GB]

This seems almost opposite to my fridge. I put all my meat on the top shelf because it's close to the freezer and is the coldest part. Believe me, I've frozen more than my share of cream cheese putting it on that shelf. I've never frozen anything on the bottom shelf.

Your top shelf very possibly is the coldest, but it is not because of its proximity to the freezer. both the fridge and freezer are insulated so one will not affect the other.

As mentioned by CanadianMeg, the reason the bottom shelf is advised is in case of leakage. If it leaks on the top shelf then you run the risk of contaminating everything below it. If it is on the bottom then everything above it is safe.

 

[jennyema]

No. Don't eat it.

Cooking kills bacteria but not the spores and toxins the bacteria may have produced. Otherwise you'd not need refrigeration -- you could just cook rank meat.

Also, on a side note, cooking chicken in a slow cooker for 10+ hours is sure to dry it out.

 

[Callisto in NC]

I agree with taking it back, however that would not work in this case as the OP already cooked it.

That's true. I would have taken it back the minute it smelled bad. Actually at our Harris Teeter you just have to call and they take your name. They usually don't require you bring it back. I screwed up filet mignon based on the butcher's cooking recommendation and they gave me a full refund and replaced the steaks. They are pretty good customer service wise.

 

[YT2095]

I anticipated having my Post #20 disagreed with and thus shortly after making it places 2 thermometers in my fridge (top and bottom).
there is a 0.7c difference, and as I said the Bottom IS colder!
and yes, I Do have the freezer section on the bottom also.

feel free to test this yourself, and we`ll let EVIDENCE do the talking instead

 

[GB]

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.

 

[pacanis]

I anticipated having my Post #20 disagreed with and thus shortly after making it places 2 thermometers in my fridge (top and bottom).
there is a 0.7c difference, and as I said the Bottom IS colder!
and yes, I Do have the freezer section on the bottom also.

feel free to test this yourself, and we`ll let EVIDENCE do the talking instead

Why would anyone disagree with it? Heat does rise, therefore cold settles, but like I said in my post, I really think the coldest part of your fridge has a lot to do with where it's getting its cold air from.
It is going to be coldest right where that duct/vent is and the temp of the air will slowly increase as it disperses, finally having the colder air settle at the bottom.

Simple principal: You are going to be coldest in an air-conditioned room sitting in a chair by the register, not sitting on the floor 15 ft away

 

[AMSeccia]

Matthew, youi might call the market where you bought that chicken. Tell them it's cooking and smells bad and that you'd like your money back. You could offer to return in its cooked state, but my guess is they'll honor it. I have had to do it with beef before, and recently with a ham steak at WalMart. WalMart wanted it back ... the local grocery store took me at my word.

Maybe keep a small cooler in your trunk for these outings in the future. I always keep poultry in the rear of my frig or preferably in my older "spare" in the basement. It seems colder because it isn't constantly opened by kids opening just to seemingly STARE at the food. 50* is not a safe temp for chicken for any amount of time unless it was frozen when you bought it.

I agree with a recent poster who asked you to please log in and let us know that you aren't sick from eating tainted food.

 

[Callisto in NC]

Who would have thought a simple question would turn into experiments. My top shelf was 39.6 degrees (US) and my bottom was was 42.3 degrees. Big difference. I guess I'll continue to double wrap my meat and keep it on that top shelf.

 

[YT2095]

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.

 

[suziquzie]

I agree with a recent poster who asked you to please log in and let us know that you aren't sick from eating tainted food.

My guess is the OP was another 1 post wonder? Or 1 post stand as I like to call 'em. I've answered a few of those and never heard how anything turned out. At christmas time I walked a guy thru making caramels for his wife for like 2 hours, and he never came back again....
unless it was just cuz of me....
maybe I should just stop talking.

 

[jennyema]

My guess is the OP was another 1 post wonder? Or 1 post stand as I like to call 'em..

Or maybe he ate the chicken?

 

[YT2095]

LOL @ Jennyema

I think the part that makes Me curious is WHY do all the "Strange Chicken" threads have such a good longevity!?

 

[BreezyCooking]

Good Lord - Four pages of people fighting about raw chicken. What a friggin' hoot.

First off, the OP doesn't or didn't have to take her supposedly spoiled chicken back to the store - whether she cooked it or not. Supermarkets these days are SO competitive, all she had to do was bring the receipt (which I ALWAYS save) back to the store & ask for a refund. Stores don't expect you to bring back rotten food. If you don't save your receipts, well just toss it, chalk it up to experience, & save your receipts in the future. However, even without a receipt, I'd still visit customer service & explain the situation. Chances are more than excellent that you'd get a store credit - even without the rotten food or the receipt.

Second of all - I always rinse my chickens & chicken parts & pat them dry (OH MY GOD - THE GASP FROM THE CROWD!!!!). I bring my plastic cutting board right up next to the sink & line it with uber-layers of paper towels. I then rinse the parts & place them on the paper towels. No splashing, surprisingly enough. I'm dealing with dead chicken parts here - not a small child taking a bath. I then place additional toweling on top, pat dry, move my cutting board over to my work area, & continue with my recipe.

Cleanup involves everything getting sanitized appropriately, & - amazingly enough - no one has yet to become ill or die from any of my poultry recipes. Go figure.

 

[YT2095]

indeed, I also have many paltry recipes and no one has ever cried fowl either

YT2095 sits back and waits for the Hate-Mail...

 

[Maverick2272]

Why am I the only one who thinks "take it back" rather than toss it. If you are 4-5 days short of your expiration date and it smells funny there's no way to know if you did it or it was bad in the first place. Less than a half hour in on a 50 degree day shouldn't have spoiled the chicken. Around here it takes a half hour for most people to get home from the grocery because of the traffic and just the whole "country" living thing. You don't know what could have happened but I sure wouldn't toss it, I'd take it back to the store because there's just very little chance that half hour it took you to transport it home made it go bad.

No, I wouldn't eat it, but I wouldn't just toss it. I'd definitely take it back for a refund or exchange. Our grocery doubles your money if their meat is bad.

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.

 

[pacanis]

I think the part that makes Me curious is WHY do all the "Strange Chicken" threads have such a good longevity!?

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

 

[GB]

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.

 

[Maverick2272]

I do not rinse. I take the chicken right out of the package and use it as is. The one exception is if I see any solid matter that rinsing would remove.

Think about it this way. It you handled raw chicken and then just rinsed your hands under water would your hands be any cleaner than before you rinsed? They may not have sticky goo on them, but as far as being clean, would you then feel safe putting your hands in your mouth?

There is a lot of debate about rinsing/not rinsing. People who rinse say that if you ever saw the way chickens were processes then you would rinse. People who don't rinse say that rinsing will not get rid of those gross things anyway. It will just remove the visual appearance of them.

I do rinse my chicken, but not out of an illusion that I am somehow making it safer. Only cooking thoroughly to above 165 internal will help ensure that.

I don't like the slimy solution of broth and water most of it comes packaged in these days when you buy the frozen stuff.

Splashing is something you do have to be careful of. I have seen people use the hand sprayers on their sink to rinse their chicken, you could see all the tiny particles of water going everywhere... Yikes!