How To Tell If Chicken Is Bad

The most popular kind of bird worldwide is chicken. Since keeping chickens is easier and less expensive than farming other mammals like cattle or hogs, chicken meat and eggs are now commonly used in many different types of cuisine.

Bake, grill, barbecue, fry, and boil are just a few of the many ways you can cook chicken. Fast food has relied heavily on cooked chicken from the later part of the 20th century. Due to its lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol than red meat, chicken is occasionally recommended as being healthier than red meat.

Why Is It Important to Know If Chicken Is Bad

Many households consider chicken to be a staple cuisine since it is a varied and nutritious food. Nevertheless, chicken can become bad, just like a lot of other poultry and meat products. This may alter the texture and flavor of it, as well as possibly cause illness. Food poisoning, another name for a foodborne illness, can occur from eating bad quality chicken. Consuming other meals or drinks tainted by bad chicken or its juices may also result in illness. According to CDC estimates, eating tainted poultry causes approximately 1 million illnesses annually in the U.S.

As mentioned by others, rotting chicken can cause food illness. (As compared to other kinds of meat, chicken turns bad more quickly) Sometimes illness can be serious, but if you are lucky, food poisoning will only have moderate symptoms like occasional vomiting, daytime diarrhoea, and then recovery. However, after experiencing such an event, you will always remember and never take a chance on eating a poor-quality chicken.

How To Recognize Bad Chicken

As per the research, it's important to cook chicken to a right temperature, (most likely, 165 degrees Fahrenheit) as some kinds of bacterial growth can go undetected to naked eye. So, cooking at high temperatures can lessen the chance of falling ill.

You can tell if the raw chicken you bought is good if you observe the following qualities;

1. Appearance And Color

There are a few key differences in the look and color of your chicken depending on whether it is cooked or raw.

Raw chicken

Check for symptoms of deterioration in the chicken's appearance before preparing it. White, fatty chunks in a light pink tint should be present in raw chicken. The chicken is spoiled and should be thrown out if the meat turns green or gray, or even if the fat on it turns yellow. Nevertheless, it's usual if the chicken's flesh exhibits some color variations.

You might notice, for instance, a faint darkening or just fading of the pink flesh. This is a common occurrence when red protein and pigment called oxymyoglobin are exposed to oxygen and change into metmyoglobin. While this may not always indicate spoiling, it may indicate that the chicken could be fresh. Most of the time, little color variations are OK, given that the chicken remains stored securely in the freezer or refrigerator.

Lastly, discard the chicken if there are any obvious indicators of deterioration, such as the formation of mold. It would help if you threw away the entire piece or simply the batch of chicken, as mold growth cannot be simply removed like it can with hard cheese.

Cooked Chicken

There should be no pink flesh bits on cooked chicken; it should be white. The undercooked chicken will have pink flesh. Chicken should be refrigerated at 40°F (4°C) or below in an airtight container for no more than three days if it is being stored as leftovers. After cooking or eating, make sure to promptly place it in the refrigerator since chicken can go bad if it is left out for longer than a few hours in the "danger zone," which is between 40°F (4°C) and 140°F (60°C).

Within this temperature range, germs multiply rapidly, raising the possibility of contracting a foodborne illness. Before you plan to eat the chicken and after it has been refrigerated, if you see any obvious symptoms of mold development or color changes, discard it. If there are any dressings or seasonings on the chicken, it can be challenging to see any mold growth or color changes. You should thus consume the chicken by three days after it is cooked. Make sure the chicken is heated through to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F (74°C).

2. The Smell

A bad piece of chicken will typically smell sulphurous or sour. Fresh chicken typically has very little to no smell. An unpleasant scent is one of the clear signs of rotten chicken. Fresh, raw chicken will either smell strongly or not at all. Throw away the chicken if it smells strongly of rotten eggs, such as a sulphurous or sour scent.

Nonetheless, you should never judge the safety of chicken just on the basis on its fragrance. Since everyone has a different sense of smell, not everyone will detect a difference in the chicken's smell. Thus, keep an eye out for more spoiling indicators.

3. Texture

Raw chicken should be shiny and slightly soft, but it shouldn't be slimy, slippery, or tacky. Bad-tasting cooked chicken is typically too soft, slimy, and sticky. The texture of fresh raw chicken is shiny and slightly mushy. When chicken is fresh, it is pink and juicy; when it has gone bad, it becomes discolored and takes on a grayish-dull hue.

It must not be dry crust, sturdy, sticky, or slimy. When you handle raw chicken, and your hands come away with a sticky residue, it isn't very good. Compared to raw chicken, cooked chicken is firmer and drier. You should stop eating it if you detect any changes in texture, such as increased stickiness, sliminess, softness, or residue.

4. Dates Of Purchase and Expiration

It's crucial to pay attention to the expiration date and the date of purchase in addition to any obvious indicators of spoiling. First, when buying chicken, always make sure to check the expiration date. There may be two dates printed on a box of chicken: the "pack date" and the "best if used by" date. The pack date is for use by retailers and manufacturers, not by consumers; it refers to the day the chicken was packaged.

It would be best if you instead referred to the "use by" (expiration) date. By using the food by this date, the maker suggests that you experience "peak quality." If you intend to consume chicken in the next one to two days, you should select a package that is nearing expiration, as these are typically discounted.

It is preferable to freeze fresh chicken for later use if you will be using it after its expiration date. Getting raw chicken is also ideal when you're finishing up your supermarket shopping. As a result, it spends less time in the danger zone in your cart.

Make sure when you bring the chicken and immediately store it in the refrigerator or freezer. To maintain track, write the purchase date on the chicken's packaging before placing it in the freezer. Fresh, uncooked chicken can be kept for one or two days in the fridge. Once the chicken is prepared, it must be consumed within three to four days and should always be kept refrigerated. Look for chicken that has an expiration date that is a few days or more after the date of purchase.

Under U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards, raw chicken should be refrigerated for no more than one or two days, even though the sell-by date is only an approximate timetable. To avoid spoiling, make sure you put it in the freezer or refrigerator within two hours.

What Is the Shelf Life of Chicken in The Fridge?

Frozen fresh poultry should be refrigerated for a maximum of 48 hours, as per FDA recommendations. In order to avoid any possible leaks or leaking on other meals, it is suggested to make sure that the refrigerator has a temperature set to less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit and storing raw chicken on or near the bottom of your fridge. "Acknowledging the "2-hour rule"-which prohibits leaving food outside in the "danger zone," defined as the temperature range between 40- and 140-degrees Fahrenheit-when you take raw chicken home from your grocery is important. This range of temperatures encourages the growth of germs. The right storage method and duration of the chicken's storage are crucial factors to take into account. It is generally advisable to thoroughly examine frozen chicken.

Search for a crust of ice. Your chicken will no longer be edible if it is completely covered in ice. The ice crust is going to be as thick as frozen ice that hasn't been thawed in a long time. When flash-frozen correctly, a chicken won't have a dense crust. Freezer burn could be the cause if the ice is white.

Look for freezer burn. A white rash or mark that isn't fat on the chicken is what freezer burn looks like. It is elevated somewhat and rougher than the surrounding skin. It won't harm you, but it will take away the enjoyment of eating chicken. Examine the hue. It's more difficult to check the color of a frozen chicken. Its color will be off, with a faint gray or yellowing of the fat, like that of raw or cooked chicken. That chicken should go in the garbage if it's darker than gray.

Carelessness Or Damage To The Shop Packaging

Even with the guidelines and suggestions for the best times for using chicken, it may still need to catch up before those dates come up. Damaged or inappropriate packaging is frequently to blame when this occurs. According to the FDA, you should never buy something that has already been opened, is ripped, or exhibits other damage. This could indicate that the food has been tampered with and exposed to harmful microorganisms.

Moreover, steer clear of chicken that seems to have been frozen after being thawed or the opposite. Any germs in meat or poultry that have thawed out may reawaken and begin to reproduce once more, according to the McGill Office for Science and Society. Additionally, because of moisture loss, each successive freeze/refreeze cycle may degrade the quality of the chicken. A faded or gray tint, ice crystals, frostburn, and an overly soft texture are indications that the material is thawing and refreezing.

Finally, avoid purchasing chicken packaged in a way that appears large or inflated. The Food Standards Agency in the U.K. states that this might be a sign of microbial development.

In Summary

Before consuming your chicken, as with any food, make sure it's safe to eat. One million incidents of food poisoning linked to poultry occur annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, between 1998 and 2008, chicken was linked to more foodborne illness mortality in the United States than any other food commodity.

Even though undercooked or raw chicken is a contributing factor in some of these situations, rotten chicken can also make you sick. Symptoms of food poisoning can take weeks to manifest and include nausea, vomiting, weakness, chills, muscle aches, and fever. Being able to identify when chicken has gone rotten can help you avoid an unpleasant experience.

You and your family will be safer from foodborne illness if you know when your chicken turns bad. Fresh raw chicken typically has a pale pink hue, tiny white fat fragments, minimal to no smell, and a tender, moist texture. The telltale indicators of rotten chicken include sliminess, an unpleasant odor, and color changes to yellow, green, or gray. Any chicken that has gone bad, been left in the refrigerator for longer than two days uncooked or four days cooked, or spent more than two hours in a temperature risk zone should be thrown out. The adage "When in doubt, throw it out" is applicable even though the indicators mentioned above are helpful.