How Long Can You Eat Chicken After The Sell By Date
When chicken is stored properly in a refrigerator, you can eat it for up to 2 days after the sell-by date. By storing it in a freezer, it can last longer. You can use it for up to 9 months. Cooked chicken can last 3 to 4 days in a refrigerator and 3 to 4 months in a freezer.
According to food safety experts, you can eat a chicken up to three days past its best-by date, if properly cooked. Chicken is still safe to prepare and eat two to three days after its sell-by date if properly stored or frozen. If stored correctly, the chicken will still be safe to eat for 1 to 2 days after the sell-by date, at which point, the chicken will begin to lose its quality with each passing day because germs begin to grow on it.
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Use is due to raw chicken being in the best possible condition prior to this date, then rapidly losing quality each following day when bacteria starts to grow. While a raw chickens “sell-by” date on the packaging is mostly there for the retailers profit, you can use it to predict when chicken is no longer safe to eat. While the sell-by date on a package of fresh chicken fresh chicken is primarily for the retailers benefit, so that they know when to take it out of the fridge, you can use it to predict when it is no longer safe to eat.
| Shelf life | Side effects |
| Cooked 3-4 days in refrigerator | Eating spoiled chicken can cause foodborne illness (food poisioning) |
| 3-4 months in freezer | It can be eaten (3 to 5 weeks past the date) |
After chicken is bought | it can remain refrigerated for 1-2 days — the sell-by date on the package can expire in this time of storage | but chicken remains safe to eat past its sell-by date as long as it has been stored correctly. In the case you do refrigerate your chicken, you may still prepare it and eat it safely up to two days from its sell-by date. Raw chicken meat may still be safe to cook and consume up to one to two days after the sold-by date listed on the package.
We would not advise cooking or eating your raw chicken past the 2 day time frame when chicken is past its expiration date. If you wish to cook or consume chicken past the three day mark, you will want to only use chicken if it has been stored correctly. It is fine to eat chicken one to two days past its used-by date on the package, as long as you bought it at a supermarket. If it is closer to its use-by date, you can certainly safely eat the chicken, and you are unlikely to have any negative symptoms.
If your chickens expiration date is right now, then you probably will have to hold onto it for another day at most. A chickens use-by date does not tell you whether or not the chicken is still fine, much less whether or not you will be allowed to toss it out. If a chicken fails any of the tests for smell, color, taste, or sold-by date, you are better off throwing it out, as it is always better to be safe than sorry.
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A good rule of thumb is always to sniff and feel a chicken, regardless if it is a day after the sell-by date, a week after, or longer, if a chicken at all smells off or feels slimy, do not take a chance on it. The general rule is that if a chicken breast still smells the way it did when you bought it in the first place, and it is not slimy, then you can still eat that chicken breast up to three days after its sell-by date. If you really do end up with just a bit too much, or if you are looking to preserve a few pieces of the chicken for later, you may want to hold onto it for a bit longer, as long as you are eating it or freezing it within two days of its sell by date.
If you buy chicken products of any type, you should make it a point to eat or freeze them within two days of the initial purchase. If you purchased your chicken in the store, you will want to either prepare the chicken within two days of purchasing or freeze it.
In a fridge, an uncooked chicken has a shelf life of two days; therefore, you need to use it or freeze it as soon as you can after purchasing it. Unless chicken has been kept consistently at or below 40 degrees F. for more than two days after purchase, uncooked chicken, including breasts, parts, and wings, will be edible for 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator after purchase, even if the “sell-by” date has passed during this time. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and FDA, raw chicken (whether it is whole, in pieces like breasts, thighs, drumsticks, and wings, or in pieces) should not last longer than one to two days in the fridge.
Cooked chicken would be good for three to four days in the refrigerator, according to USDA, and for two to three months in the freezer. You can keep cooked chicken in the fridge three to four days, giving you plenty of time to incorporate it into another meal. If stored correctly (in a zipper-lock bag or sealed container), the USDA says that cooked chicken can keep three to four days in the fridge.
Chicken can be stored for four days after its use-by date in the fridge, while in the freezer, it can last for six months after its use-by date. To keep chicken fresh longer than just a few days, you are encouraged to keep it frozen. If you are freezing chicken products, you should strive to have them used within six months after you put them into your freezer, because beyond that time, many foods may suffer from freezer burn, losing flavor. Because bacteria can begin to grow in temperatures under 40F, raw chicken should never be left on your kitchen counter, but stored either in your fridge or freezer, depending on how quickly you intend to cook it.
Officially | The FDA says, conservatively, that refrigerated fresh poultry (chicken or turkey) is only safe to consume 1 to 2 days past its sold-by date. The sold-by date on Chicken is useful to judge quality, but expiration dates for poultry and meats are not necessarily a certainty for your safety. While most sites repeat the FDAs recommendation that chicken kept in a refrigerator is safe up to 2-3 days past its sell-by date, a number of sites and food forums note that sell-by dates are just one recommendation. If chicken is undated today, you can store it up to two days without the risk of it spoiling.
How long is chicken good for after sell-by date in freezer?
After freezing, it doesn’t matter whether any package dates are over their expiration date because chicken may be maintained continually frozen and be safe permanently. Keep whole raw chicken in the freezer for up to a year; pieces for nine months; and giblets or ground chicken for three to four months for the best quality, flavour, and texture.
How can you tell if the chicken is bad?
The typical appearance of fresh raw chicken is a bright pink tint with white fat pieces, little to no odor, and a soft, moist texture. These symptoms of poor chicken include sliminess, an unpleasant odor, and a change in color to yellow, green, or grey.
What does the sell-by-date mean on chicken?
The word sell-by, frequently used on food product labels, refers to the final day a retailer may have the item on display on a store shelf. If properly stored, food is considered safe to eat for up to 10 days after the sell-by date. You should often look for sell-by dates on meat and poultry.