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You are here: Experts > Parenting/Family > Protecting your Home and Family > Food Safety Issues > how long to keep thawed chicken?
Expert: Carol Schlitt - 10/27/2009
Question
I took chicken out of the freezer to defrost and I forgot about it - my husband worked late and the next few nights we ate out - it has been over a week and my husband is saying that even if there is something bad in it that when I cook the chicken it will kill anything that would possibly make him sick- is this even close to being true?
Answer
Hi Talya,
The general safety recommendation for defrosted chicken is to use within 1-2 days of full defrost. One week in the refrigerator is considered beyond the safety guidelines and the chicken should not be cooked or consumed.
While cooking will destroy and live bacteria, the problem is that with long refrigerator storage, some bacteria can produce a waste product that can make you ill. This waste product, or toxin, is not deactivated by heat. Thus it is possible to become ill, even though the chicken is cooked. If cooking was all we needed to do to make food safe, then there wouldn't be any guidelines for safe food usage other than if the food still looks, tastes and smells good....cook it and everything will be okay!!!
Until we have a way of telling if raw chicken left in the refrigerator is still safe to cook and consume, the recommendation will be to error on the side of caution and pitch the bird!
Carol
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