Left Raw chicken in Trunk - HELP

[JGDean]

Several weeks ago a package of chicken escaped my grocery bag and was in the trunk of my car for 5 days. There was a bad odor in the garage and we thought something had died. After searching, we found nothing. On day 6 I went to put charity stuff in the trunk and nearly barfed on opening the trunk. We have tried many things to eliminate the odor throughout the car to no avail. Please... any suggestions???

 

[Saphellae]

Have you gotten it detailed?

I haven't smelled 6 day old chicken in a hot car.. I don't think I'd want to.. I have no idea

 

[Andy M.]

Remove everything from the trunk - the spare tire and carpeting etc. then wash the interior with a strong detergent solution. Do the same for the trunk liner whether it's rubber or carpet. You may need an industrial size bottle of Febreze or other deodorizer. Check with auto or hardware stores. Then just keep airing it out.

You will probably find the smell is in the passenger compartment. Then you need some auto upholstery cleaner for the carpeting and seats.

Paying a professional to do all this for you may be a good idea.

 

[LAJ]

Have you thought of a car cleaning/detailing company? they can do wonders

 

[Alix]

Holy cow, GROSS!!!

Everything needs to be cleaned. The cleaning ladies on TV (How Clean is your House) always suggest adding a cut up lemon to your cleaning water to help deodorize stuff. They use a lot of vinegar and baking soda too. I had great success with the lemon water when I burnt garlic in the microwave. Good luck!

 

[taxlady]

As others have suggested, it may be worth it to have a professional auto detailer do it for you. A detailer likely has the products on hand or needs to buy them anyway. But, be sure to tell the detailer what happened before asking for a quote.

If any of your friends do detailing or have a good auto detailer, that's who I would suggest you use. The hand car wash places are of very random quality and might damage the finish of your car in the process.

 

[roadfix]

Good thing the police weren't involved.

 

[pacanis]

Several weeks is too long for chicken to be sitting in a trunk unrefrigerated.
Throw the car out.




I'd try one of those ozone electric air cleaners on it. Run an extension cord out to the car and close it in the window. Leave the air cleaner run for several hours and see if it does its thing.

 

[Aunt Bea]

A bucket of lime might do it.

 

[Kayelle]

Pac, I just snorted my tea again.

Several weeks is too long for chicken to be sitting in a trunk unrefrigerated.
Throw the car out.

At first I thought for sure the question was gonna be "can I cook it".

 

[Zhizara]

At first I thought for sure the question was gonna be "can I cook it".

Me too!

 

[medtran49]

We left a bunch of asaparagus in the car for several days once. Had gone to a farmer's market and had bought a bunch of veges. It rolled out of the bag and under the seat. We were both putting stuff away so didn't realize it wasn't there. I don't drive a lot so until I went to cook it one night for dinner later in the week we didn't find it. It had literally liquified in the S Fla sun/temps and was in a paper bag so we would have had to take the seat out and rip the carpet out. I ended up blotting up as much as I could out of the carpet, dumped some baking soda on it to soak up rest of liquid. After a day, cleaned up the baking soda, added some more and kept doing that for a while. We also left the windows open a crack nearly all the time and wide open when we could. The smell eventually went away. I don't even want to imagine what chicken smelled like after finding out what veges can smell like when they rot. Good luck!

 

[Barbara L]

Several weeks is too long for chicken to be sitting in a trunk unrefrigerated.
Throw the car out.




I'd try one of those ozone electric air cleaners on it. Run an extension cord out to the car and close it in the window. Leave the air cleaner run for several hours and see if it does its thing.

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought, "Surely this person isn't asking if it is ok to eat chicken that has been in the car a couple weeks?!!" Whew!

I agree with a few of the others that you should just go ahead and try a professional at this point. We had a freezer die while we were on vacation years ago, and we never got the smell of the two turkeys and everything else that spoiled out of it.

Good luck!

 

[Chef Munky]

Several weeks ago a package of chicken escaped my grocery bag and was in the trunk of my car for 5 days. There was a bad odor in the garage and we thought something had died. After searching, we found nothing. On day 6 I went to put charity stuff in the trunk and nearly barfed on opening the trunk. We have tried many things to eliminate the odor throughout the car to no avail. Please... any suggestions???

Boric Acid works wonders as a carpet cleaning solution.
It's a much cheaper and better alternative cleaner then any commercial carpet cleaning solutions you can buy.

If you can rent or borrow a steam cleaner. If you car has air filters, I'd just buy new ones.

For the trunk remove the carpet. Spray the Boric Acid solution on it and let it soak in and dry. When dry repeat and use the carpet cleaner. You could even sprinkle it on the carpet and leave it.

A friend of mine had a cat that loved to spray in her house. Especially her couch and bedroom carpet. I made her a Boric Acid solution. It completely removed the odor.The cat never marked that territory again.

Boric Acid Treatments | LIVESTRONG.COM

How to Make a Boric Acid Liquid Spray From Powder | eHow.com

Good luck!

 

[joesfolk]

At first I thought for sure the question was gonna be "can I cook it".

If it spent that long in a car trunk in Florida it was probably already cooked!!

 

[Somebunny]

Try coffee grounds. When DH (a truck driver by trade) used to haul fish, even though they were refrigerated, the trailers would smell pretty bad and to avoid the smells being transferred to the next load which was likely vegetables. They would wash out the trailer and then sprinkle a pound of coffee on the floor. He thinks you would only need about a quarter pound for a car. Maybe let it sit for a day or two then vacuum. Couldn't hurt, relatively inexpensive fix. Otherwise off to the professionals.

 

[Sprout]

Pour gasoline or another accelerant in the trunk, throw in a match, and run! JK. Please don't do that, and please don't track me down and sue me (if you're still alive) if you do.

We had the same exact thing happen when I was a kid. We used the basics, baking soda, carpet cleaners, etc, and it still took the entire summer for the stink to fully fade. I hope some of the suggestions here are more effective! Let us know what you try and how it works! Hopefully I'll never need it, but jic, it could be good to know!

 

[BronnieBakes]

This happened to me as well - and the smell is revolting!! We just gave it a huge spray using toilet spray and then placed a few of those hanging smelly things and it eventually went away. Another suggestion could be some lemons.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Pour gasoline or another accelerant in the trunk, throw in a match, and run! JK. Please don't do that, and please don't track me down and sue me (if you're still alive) if you do.

I't might do it on its own if its an American Car

 

[buckytom]

i'm sorry princess, but this is patriotism

ye, bolas, of american muscle car envy. cast out thy demons.

it's not a petrol pedal, is it?

throttle is another word for envy.

it's a gas pedal or hammer, of which to be put down with an all american predjna nroga.