How long can uncooked chicken sit out?

[broberfett]

My girlfriend put frozen chicken in the sink in the morning, around 8am. Her car broke down and I had to try to jump start it and it didn't work. So I drove her to work. Before she knew her car wouldn't start, she wrote a note asking me to put the chicken in the fridge. I forgot. So now it is 7:27PM and I just put it away. It started frozen, but then probably totally thawed by noon. So it sat out for seven and a half hours after thawing, maybe more.

 

[RoJoHen]

Eh, I probably would have cooked it rather than freezing it again.

 

[kitkat]

I wouldn't eat it. I would throw it out. If it were beef, I might would smell it and possibly cook it but I wouldn't with chicken. I know I'm a bit paranoid but better safe than sorry.

 

[Trippy]

I'd throw it away too. You can't be to careful around chicken and samonella.

 

[Elmo Dukat]

I agree with Trippy and kitkat. Salmonella is nothing to fool with. Did you know you could get it from not baking Banquet chicken, but rather just microwaving it? Bleeeeccch

 

[Gertch]

How long can uncooked chicken sit out? Probably a couple of years. Just don't forget the feed them.

 

[broberfett]

I put it back in the fridge. I didn't refreeze it. It was in a sealed ziplock bag while it was sitting out if that makes a difference.

 

[broberfett]

I agree with Trippy and kitkat. Salmonella is nothing to fool with. Did you know you could get it from not baking Banquet chicken, but rather just microwaving it? Bleeeeccch

Ewwwww. Where did you hear this? Banquet chicken is kinda gross no matter how you cook it.

 

[Elmo Dukat]

How long can uncooked chicken sit out? Probably a couple of years. Just don't forget the feed them.

 

[Trekker4747]

Did it stay cold? And I mean COLD, less than 40 degrees?

Aww, fuck it. Still way too damn risky. Sitting out for an hour is about the extent of it.

Six or seven? No way.

 

[Holdfast]

IDid you know you could get it from not baking Banquet chicken, but rather just microwaving it? Bleeeeccch

Not only did I not know that, I didn't know what Banquet chicken was before opening this thread. After googling, I regret my new-found knowledge and must agree with broberfett's later comment - it looks gross.

USA ready-meals seem really disgusting. Not that the UK ones are all wonderful, but they ARE much, much nicer than the USA ones I've come across online. I don't eat them anymore, preferring to cook for myself nowadays, but seriously the quality difference appears astonishing. I think it's because in the UK, the ready meal has moved from being treated as unhealthy & lazy food to being positioned as a premium & indulgent option. Millions of marketing and research pounds have gone into improving the quality of both the food and the packaging and in many supermarkets, the ready meals have premium positioning too.

 

[Kryton]

Man, this is one chicken sit thread!

 

[Cutter John]

According to restaurant safety guidelines, leaving uncooked food out for two hours above 40 degrees is a no no. So yep, toss it.

 

[cultcross]

See I'm going to go against the grain and say cook it. Cook it thoroughly, and it'll be fine. We get stupidly paranoid about things like chicken. If it is heated all the way through to higher than 70 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes or more, I'd pay good money to see anything that could make you ill survive that. And given that it was i na sealed bag, anything that is in it now was in it before.
You get food poisoning from chicken in three main ways: Not cooking it properly, letting cooked chicken sit out and then eating it, and contaminating cooked chicken with raw, then eating the cooked stuff. Already cooked chicken is far more dangerous in terms of food borne disease risk than uncooked - you're about to blast the raw stuff with heat well above what microorganisms can stand.

 

[Non Sync]

I was on a kayaking trip a couple of years ago and our guide just kept the chicken in the bottom of his boat for almost two days.

Just cook it very well.

 

[Trekker4747]

Chicken has natural pathogens in it. Natural pathogens that double in number every hour over 40 degrees F. It's not worth the risk.

Yes, cooking it thourghouly should kill all of the bacteria in it but it still isn't worth the risks.

 

[Gertch]

If it is heated all the way through to higher than 70 degrees Celsius

But he's in the US. So that's not going to work.



Cooking it like that should kill everything. If it was cooked and left out I would toss it.

 

[Trekker4747]

If it is heated all the way through to higher than 70 degrees Celsius

But he's in the US. So that's not going to work.



Cooking it like that should kill everything. If it was cooked and left out I would toss it.

Chicken breast should be cooked to no less than 165*F.

I still say it's not worth the risk. Even if cooking it kills all of the harmful material in it I'm not confident it'd even taste good.

I've taken food-safety classes as part of my job, I'm required to every couple years.

The chicken isn't fit to be eaten. It has sat out in temperatures over 40*F for more than one hour. It's not safe to eat, at least not safe enough to be worth the risk.

Chicken breast is fairly cheap. Cheaper than missing a day of work because you're busy counting the tile on your bathroom floor for the fifth time... in one sitting, or even death from more severe exposure to a pathogen.

Toss it out.

 

[RobertVA]

Be aware that the presence of live bacteria is not the only hazard from spoiled food. Some bacteria produce toxic chemicals in their biological wastes (do I need to say germ s___?). Examples include the nerve destroying chemical used for Botox(tm) treatments (a medical derivative of a deadly form of food poisoning) and biochemicals that created the dangerous toxic shock syndrome first associated with careless use of certain women's sanitary products a few decades ago. Those chemicals aren't necessarily destroyed by cooking or heat sterileization.

 

[Trekker4747]

Be aware that the presence of live bacteria is not the only hazard from spoiled food. Some bacteria produce toxic chemicals in their biological wastes (do I need to say germ s___?). Examples include the nerve destroying chemical used for Botox(tm) treatments (a medical derivative of a deadly form of food poisoning) and biochemicals that created the dangerous toxic shock syndrome first associated with careless use of certain women's sanitary products a few decades ago. Those chemicals aren't necessarily destroyed by cooking or heat sterileization.

Correct.

The chances are still probably pretty darn slim, but certainly not worth the risk(s.)

You can either throw out the chicken and then go buy some more at $2.99/lb or you can sit on the toilet and read through War and Peace a couple of times.

Your choice.