How long can uncooked chicken sit outside fridge before going bad?

Quoted message said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use it?
Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

If it was frozen when you bought it and the package was still cold and icy by the time you got it in
the refrigerator then it's probably okay. However, if it came from the refrigerated meat case and
wasn't frozen when you bought it then I would toss it. At 60-65 degrees for such a long time the
chicken has probably gotten too warm and unsafe.

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use it?
Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

The USDA says 4 hours between 40-140 is asking for trouble. Which means at least 6 hours in my book.
I'd eat it.

If you have a cat, they know when something is safe or not.

-sw

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

--

It is risky if you pass 2 hours... Keep an ice chest in the car, but as for that batch, it's up
to you. :-)

Personally, if they still smelled ok, I'd cook them up for the chooks. I learned the hard way not to
take risks like that.

K.

--

Quoted message said:

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Robin saw Sally selling seashells by the seashore and told us all
about it on Sun, 14 Dec 2003 23:08:15 -0800:

Quoted message said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use it?
Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

Can we say ewwwww? If the chicken was frozen to start with then it'd still be nice and cold and fine
to use. But if it was fresh then it got seriously overheated. Cars are like very big ovens and they
get much hotter than the surrounding air, so there's no telling how warm the chicken got in that
length of time. I wouldn't risk it... but I err on the side of caution with meat because I'm rather
paranoid about germs.

(huggles)

~Karen AKA Kajikit

Nobody outstubborns a cat...

Visit my webpage: kajikitscorner.comkajikitscorner.comOpen ↗ Allergyfree Eating Recipe Swap:
groups.yahoo.comAllergyfree EatingOpen ↗ Ample Aussies Mailing List:
groups.yahoo.comampleaussiesOpen ↗

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use it?
Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

Inside the car, it was probably a good deal warmer than 60-65F. And the chicken has had a couple of
days at 'fridge temperature for bacteria to flourish (remember, a refrigerator isn't a time
capsule). I'd definitely toss them. OTOH, I might have felt safe cooking the chicken as soon as I
got home. For self, not guests, as another poster has mentioned.

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

It should be okay. Smell the chicken. If it went bad, you can sometimes, but not always detect it by
smell. Be sure to cook the chicken thoroughly. If you're still in doubt, do not use the chicken.
Next time, do your grocery shopping as your last errand before you head home so you do not have to
worry about such concerns.

"Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

You should toss it. Why? Because you don't seem to know enough about food contamination to judge
whether or not the meat was exposed to too high a temperature for too long or not.

You cannot tell by whether food is contaminated by smell, taste, or appearance, short of a
microscope and the training to identify pathogens.

Spoilage is not the same thing as contamination. Food can be spoiled and safe to eat. Food can seem
completely fresh and yet kill you due to contamination. Something that's spoiled may also be
contaminated. Spoilage can be useful to determine whether food may be unsafe to eat, but the lack of
spoilage does NOT indicate that food IS safe to eat. People who get ill or die from food poisoning
usually have no indication that the food they ate was contaminated. This is why proper food handling
is required throughout the entire process prior to consumption.

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

Next time you're in a situation like that, bring a cooler of ice in your car. Just a suggestion.
Or even just pick up one of those cheapo styrofoam coolers and a bag of ice. You won't have to
worry, then.

My personal feeling is that, if I was concerned, the chicken wouldn't taste good to me anyway, so
why bother.

nancy

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

Odor isn't a reliable indicator.

I'd cook them and enjoy the wonderful bounty of our industrialized agriculture system. Cooking them
will kill everything on them. You might even want to brine them for an hour or two with salt, a
smidge of sugar, garlic powder and maybe a grating of black pepper. The salt will minimize and off-
smells and the brining will make them more moist, bigger coming out of the cooking pan and tastier.

As a general rule, you probably ought to cook chicken within a day of buying it for best flavor
and smell.

Pastorio

In article <[email hidden]>,

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

Toss it. According to the US Department of Agriculture:

"Pathogenic bacteria do not generally affect the taste, smell, or appearance of a food. In other
words, one cannot tell that a food has been mishandled or is dangerous to eat. For example, food
that has been left too long on the counter may be dangerous to eat, but could smell and look fine.
If a food has been left in the "Danger Zone" ­ between 40 and 140 ° F ­ for more than 2 hours,
discard it, even though it may look and smell good. Never taste a food to see if it is spoiled."

<http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/FAQ/hotlinefaq.htm#6>

--
to respond, change "spamless.invalid" with "optonline.net" please mail OT responses only

Robin said:

Would you toss it or use it?

When in doubt, throw it out. Especially if you are not experienced or educated in food sanitation
and safety.

Quoted message said:

Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

No. If it smells bad it *is* bad, but if it smells good, it might still be bad. Salmonella is
odorless ;-)

--
John Gaughan
johngaughan.netjohngaughan.netOpen ↗
[email hidden]

Katra said:

Personally, if they still smelled ok, I'd cook them up for the chooks.

Odor isn't a reliable indicator for pathogens, so you shouldn't depend on it.

If this were me: I would definetely not serve them to guests. I'd probably eat them myself though,
because they're fine in all likelihood.

I see it this way... it's one thing to take a risk for myself, even if it's small. It's quite
another thing to involve others.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

Nancy Young said:

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees.

Quoted message said:

My personal feeling is that, if I was concerned, the chicken wouldn't taste good to me anyway, so
why bother.

"When in doubt, throw it out" is *such* a good guideline. Even to know enough to ask the question
implies one knows the meat's safety/taste may be compromised. UDSA/FDA/other recommendations may err
on the cautious side, but I don't want to cook a dish and wonder, start to finish, while eating, and
when waking the next day if I should make sure I'm able to dial 911 in the middle of stomach cramps.
Much less that my name is going to be in the paper as host of a Ptomaine Picnic.

Steve Wertz said:

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours. It sat in
the car, local temps are about 60-65 degrees. Got it home, put in fridge, now two days later,
assuming its still good, need to cook up now before more time goes by. Would you toss it or use
it? Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

The USDA says 4 hours between 40-140 is asking for trouble. Which means at least 6 hours in my
book. I'd eat it.

That should be 2 hours. I was getting carried away with my 4's. Which still means 6 hours
in my book.

-sw

John Gaughan said:

Robin said:

Would you toss it or use it?

When in doubt, throw it out. Especially if you are not experienced or educated in food sanitation
and safety.

Quoted message said:

Can you tell by odor alone if its ok?

No. If it smells bad it *is* bad, but if it smells good, it might still be bad. Salmonella is
odorless ;-)

--
John Gaughan

John is SO correct on that one! :-P I learned it the hard way...

Ate a questionable (raw) egg that smelled and tasted fine. I like steak Tartar.....

After 3 days of severe gastroenteritis, I finally went to the ER to get help.

Salmonella. :-P

OTOH, the IV Demerol dose almost made it worth it all... <G>

K.
--

Quoted message said:

^,,^< Cats-haven Hobby Farm >^,,^< [email hidden] >^,,^<

"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are all owned by
cats" -- Asimov

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Quoted message said:

Robin said:

I purchased chicken thighs at Costco, and wasn't able to get home for about 4-5 hours.

Quoted message said:

It should be okay. Smell the chicken. If it went bad, you can sometimes, but not always detect it
by smell. Be sure to cook the chicken thoroughly. If you're still in doubt, do not use the
chicken. Next time, do your grocery shopping as your last errand before you head home so you do
not have to worry about such concerns.

Or take a picnic cooler in the trunk with ice or those frozen blue ice things for your meat,
milk, etc.

gloria p

Reg said:

Katra said:

Personally, if they still smelled ok, I'd cook them up for the chooks.

Odor isn't a reliable indicator for pathogens, so you shouldn't depend on it.

If this were me: I would definetely not serve them to guests. I'd probably eat them myself though,
because they're fine in all likelihood.

I see it this way... it's one thing to take a risk for myself, even if it's small. It's quite
another thing to involve others.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

Uh, chooks are chickens... :-) That is what I suggested she feed them to.

Chickens eat maggots and carrion, etc. It's VERY hard to poison them with spoiled food! LOL!

K.

--

Quoted message said:

^,,^< Cats-haven Hobby Farm >^,,^< [email hidden] >^,,^<

"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are all owned by
cats" -- Asimov

Custom handcrafts, Sterling silver beaded jewelry
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"Reg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Katra said:

Personally, if they still smelled ok, I'd cook them up for the chooks.

Odor isn't a reliable indicator for pathogens, so you shouldn't depend on it.

If this were me: I would definetely not serve them to guests. I'd probably eat them myself though,
because they're fine in all likelihood.

I see it this way... it's one thing to take a risk for myself, even if

it's

Quoted message said:

small. It's quite another thing to involve others.

Amen. I bend the rules when it's just cooking for me. Especially rule F, as in 'fff-ffff', for when
something hits the floor.

Jack San-i-terry

Katra said:

Uh, chooks are chickens... :-) That is what I suggested she feed them to.

Ah. In that case I'd throw out the costco boxed chicken and cook the real ones!

I'm jealous. I want my own chicken supply like you have.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com