Is Chicken Safe To Eat Past The Sell By Date?
It is safe to eat chicken even after the sell-by date if you’ve stored it properly, in an airtight container, and placed it in the freezer within one to two days of purchasing it. If not, then do not consume it after the sell-by date and keep an eye out for spoilage signs even before the sell-by date.
When buying chicken in the fresh market, asell-bydate is mostly there to benefit the seller, but can also be used by consumers to tell when chicken is no longer safe to eat. While the sell-by date for fresh chicken is primarily for the retailers benefit, so that they know when to take it out of the fridge, you may be using it to determine when it is no longer safe to consume. It is important to note that freezing or refrigerating the chicken does not make it safer for consumption past its sell-by date.
If kept correctly, the chicken will be safe to eat up until 1 or 2 days after the sell-by date, at which point, the chicken will begin to lose its quality with each passing day as bacteria begin to grow on it. Proper storage is vital if you want the chicken to last longer and to make sure that chicken remains safe to eat. If you are unsure whether or not the chicken has been stored correctly, then best to avoid eating it.
| Is it okay to eat chicken past the sell by date? | How long does chicken last in the fridge? |
| If you want to eat chicken that has passed its sell by date of 3 days, then you have to use the chicken that has been stored correctly. Otherwise it is unsafe to eat. | Raw chicken, including breasts, pieces, and wings, will stay edible in a fridge for 1-2 days. |
If you are looking to prepare or eat chicken that has passed its expiration date of three days, you will want to only use the chicken if it has been stored correctly. As long as you store the chicken in a refrigerator, you can cook and eat it for up to two days past the date the package indicates should be used. In the fridge, raw chicken has a shelf life of two days; therefore, you should use it or freeze it as soon as you can after you buy it.
If you do not plan on using the chicken within 1 or 2 days after purchasing, then you are better off freezing it. Since storing raw chicken in your fridge is not recommended longer than 2 days, it is always best to freeze it in order to keep it for a longer period. We would not recommend cooking or eating your raw chicken past a 2-day window when it is past its expiration date.
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Raw chicken meat may still be safe to cook and eat up to 1 to 2 days past the date on the package it is sold. If you really do find you have a bit too much, or want to preserve a piece of the raw chicken for later, you may want to hold onto it for a bit longer, provided that you are eating it or freezing it within two days of the sell by date. Unless chicken has been kept consistently at or below 40 degrees F for more than two days after it was purchased, raw chicken, including breasts, pieces, and wings, will stay edible in a fridge for 1 to 2 days after it was purchased, even if its sell-by date has passed during this time.
If your chicken shows no signs of going bad, you may eat the chicken one to two days after the sold-by date on the package. If you cannot use your chicken in time, be sure to put your chicken into a freezer immediately after purchase, not waiting until it is nearly gone bad. If you place chicken in your freezer when it is very close to expiring, the time required to freeze and thaw the meat may make it unsafe to eat. Keep in mind, even if the smell or texture of the chicken does not change, it is still possible for chicken to be unsafe to eat.
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You might need to bring the chicken up to room temperature before you can determine whether or not it smells moldy. You should never leave a chicken sitting at room temperature for longer than two hours, or one hour if the room is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Bacteria spread rapidly through meat, no matter how fresh. Because bacteria can begin to grow at temperatures under 40 degrees F, raw chicken should never be left on your kitchen counter, but stored either in your fridge or freezer, depending on how quickly you plan on cooking it. If you cooked a piece of raw chicken, or have purchased previously prepared cooked chicken products, then that certainly has a much longer shelf life, particularly if kept refrigerated.
You can keep cooked chicken in the fridge for three or four days, giving you plenty of time to incorporate it into another meal. Your cooked chicken will last months in the freezer, particularly if you use a vacuum to remove all of the air in the bag. When you purchase chicken, the bag should feel cold to the touch, and you should place it into your freezer immediately. If a chicken fails any smell, color, feeling, or sale-by-date tests, you are better off throwing it out, as it is always better to be safe than sorry.
The poultrys sell-by date does not tell you whether or not the chicken is still fine, much less whether or not you should toss it out. That date does not necessarily mean that it is time to toss the chicken, so in the interest of food waste reduction and saving money, let us take a look at how long it should be safe to eat. If the chickens “use-by” date is right now, then you probably want to hold onto it just a little longer. If it is closer to its use-by date, you will certainly be able to eat the chicken safely, and you are unlikely to have any unfavorable symptoms.
The best thing to do when looking at whether or not you can eat chicken past its expiration date is to see what raw chicken looks and smells like. A good rule of thumb is always to sniff and feel the chicken, regardless if it is a day after its use-by date, a week past, or longer, if the chicken at all smells off or is slimy, do not take a chance on it. If the chicken is undate stamped today, then you can hold onto it up to two days without the risk of spoiling it. Chicken should never stay in the refrigerator longer than that, because signs of spoilage only set in after fresh chicken has gone bad a few days later.
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.
How long is unopened raw chicken good for in the fridge?
A vacuum-sealed chicken can often be kept in the fridge for three to ten days, or even up to two weeks. But the shelf life might vary depending on a number of circumstances. Due to the high perishability of chicken, storing a vacuum-sealed chicken in the refrigerator may only be a temporary solution.