to throw this chicken away?

[tenlittlecygnets]

Dh took frozen chicken out of the freezer to defrost last night. He left it on the side to defrost and has only just now put it in the fridge. It's been out of the frezer almost 24 hours!!

AIBU to have chucked it out? He also had the cheek to say I should have reminded him to put it in the fridge ...

I would not eat that. Would you?

That’s true for heat stable toxins such in E. coli, I agree.

Thanks, all. I thought you couldn't smell toxins and bacteria growing? . That's not the same as smelling that a chicken has gone off...

I try very hard not to be wasteful, but equally don't want to risk food poisoning over a chicken breast.

I would totally cook it well and eat it.

You won't get food poisoning

I would have chucked it out too. Beef or lamb wouldn't bother me, but definitely not chicken. I had food poisoning and was off work for a month, so no way would I risk it.

Eat it

I wouldn’t think US food advice is helpful, they have very different poultry hygiene standards and a much higher rate of food poisoning. And generally warmer kitchens.

@MereDintofPandiculation

I wouldn’t think US food advice is helpful, they have very different poultry hygiene standards and a much higher rate of food poisoning. And generally warmer kitchens.

This is a face palm moment. So because the US has worse rates of food poisoning then by all means, let’s ignore science. They also have higher road traffic fatalities and larger vehicles so why don’t we ignore their road safety advice too and just skip using seatbelts?

The scientific truth is, warm or cool kitchen, these bacteria still thrive at all room temperatures comfortable for humans and even a bit outside that range. The danger zone is 5-60C. So unless, U.K. people are sitting in a kitchen that is 4C and below? Your they have warmer kitchens in the US hypothesis is dead on arrival.

(Besides it’s not really true, air conditioning is widespread in the US so actually, they tend to have cooler kitchens, not warmer.)

That’s not at all what I meant by my comment, I was just pointing out that you were using FDA information quoted from a Livestrong article to support your entirely correct scientific point. They have a very different food standards and farming practices.

not a chance

No way!
Defrosted in the fridge, never at riom temperature!!
Bin it!

Oh ffs that chicken died for you and you just chucked it in the bin without a thought. YABU.

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]You lot are risking serious illness defrosting chicken on a counter.

“Thawing chicken on the counter is not safe. Part of that cavalier attitude stems from a mistaken belief that, since the chicken will be cooked afterwards, it will be food safe by the time it reaches your table. That widely held opinion is inaccurate, sometimes tragically so.
Cooking to a food safe temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, as recommended by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, doesn't kill all of the bacteria. It does reduce their numbers sharply, but the higher the bacteria population before cooking, the more that remain after cooking.
More important, some bacteria associated with chicken — including Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli — produce heat-stable toxins that can make you seriously ill, even after the bacteria are killed.”
www.livestrong.com/article/481823-can-you-cook-chicken-that-was-thawed-to-room-temp/[/quote]
American poultry is drastically more likely than UK to be covered in salmonella, e coli and sundry other nasties. The chances are much much much lower here because we have much higher animal health and hygeine standards.

That's why we're concerned about imported chlorine washed chicken (which our darling government voted we should definitely not be protected against on Monday).

I've always taken things out of the freezer to defrost on the kitchen counter including chicken 🤷‍♀️ it something my mum has also always done too. Never been sick because of it.

No, I wouldn't have any appetite for it, knowing it had been sitting out that long. It might not hurt you if properly cooked, but it's not worth the risk in my opinion (and again, I'd feel ill just thinking about eating it).

I too hate to see food wasted, but I'd rather waste a little chicken than risk making myself or others violently ill, so I always err on the side of caution and try to be very careful not to make mistakes like leaving chicken out for 24 hours.

Med student here specialising in research/microbiology etc. That's absolutely disgusting!! You definitely did the right thing OP. It really concerns me that so many people completely lack food safety habits and knowledge. Clearly many posters here have been rather lucky, but that does not at all make it a safe thing to do. Wouldn't expect it to make someone ill every single time, but I certainly will never take that risk.

YABU to throw out chicken without even doing the sniff test.

Your DH is BU to expect you to remind him to do things. Tell him to get his shit together.

Just sniff it

Thehighestsardine,
The fact that US poultry is more likely to have microbes on it than U.K. poultry doesn’t make it safe to thaw ANY chicken even a British chicken on the kitchen counter.

It’s like saying because US drivers are worse than U.K. drivers and you are more likely to die in a road accident that it’s perfectly safe to drive in the U.K. with no seatbelt on.

There is still risk of food poisoning because thawing the chicken on a kitchen counter is unsafe in any country and with any chicken. Even a superior squeaky clean British chicken.

I'm totally cavalier about use-by dates etc, but I'm quite scared of getting food poisoning from chicken as it's a) reasonably common and b) often nasty.

I wouldn't have touched your chicken with a barge pole OP. Just not worth it. Especially if you have young, old or otherwise vulnerable people in the house.

There is a risk but much, much lower. The protection mechanisms Americans have to go through with poultry and poultry products like eggs just doesn't translate to here.

Yet.

@TheHighestSardine

There is a risk but much, much lower. The protection mechanisms Americans have to go through with poultry and poultry products like eggs just doesn't translate to here.

Yet.

I think that is unknown whether it is much lower or barely lower or not even lower at all. The BBC article did a good job explaining how food poisoning studies and statistics cannot be compared between US and UK because the methodologies are too vastly different. www.bbc.com/news/uk-47440562

And, you’re wrong about it “not translating to here”- basic food hygiene when thawing chicken apply everywhere to everyone. Did you not see what MiniEggs also wrote?

YANBU but I would still eat it. I wouldn’t take the risk of feeding it to a child, and elderly person, or anyone in any way vulnerable. If my husband had defrosted it at room temperature instead of in the fridge I’d assume he was just as cavalier as me about food safety and we’d share it.