Will she get sick from eating this and AIBU for being a little pissed off?

[Friends1996]

I had a hospital appointment yesterday and couldn’t take DD with me (she has autism and doesn’t cope in hospital environments).

I left her at home, with my grandparents (early 70’s, still fit and active, etc) and my sister (28 years old). She is quite easy to look after, as she just goes off and does her own thing and only really needs supervising.

I spoke to my grandparents today who said that she was complaining that the chicken in the fridge was spicy yesterday when she was eating it. I then realised that these (linked below) were what she was talking about and that all 3 of them have let DD eat it raw!

I did get a little bit pissed off because firstly, it’s obviously a packet of chicken that needs cooking and it says it right on the front. Secondly, DD kept telling them that it needed cooking and they just ignored her and thought they knew better.

Will this make her sick and unwell? She ate I would say maybe a small filet of it? And AIBU for being pissed off at all 3 of them for making such a stupid mistake and not checking properly?

https://www.aldi.co.uk/product/roosters-hot-spicy-chicken-tenders-000000000580751002

Is it a stretch for you to think that the billions of pounds the big companies pour into food science could come up with a raw batter coating that is attractive and looks "cooked", in an age where we have put men on the moon?

Why is the main argument here about whether a chicken product is partially cooked/cooked or raw instead of why three grown adults let a child eat meat straight out of the fridge? That's absolutely lazy fucking neglect. Even if the chicken had been cooked, it's common sense for an adult to heat up some food for a child if they ask. And put it on a plate with cutlery, served with a beverage etc. Especially if they're in her house and the main job is to take care of her. It's disgusting to think they gave so little of a shit that they let a little girl eat meat out of a packet from the fridge.

A chicken pie also doesn’t say it can be eaten hot or cold 🤣

I’m not saying the food in question isn’t at least in part raw, but there are also people on here saying the crumb looks cooked because it’s been coloured to look that way 🙄 when clearly the outer part is cooked.

Why do so many people think food poisoning is immediate/quick to show up? Salmonella has an incubation period of up to 6 days, so it’s certainly not the case that if you’re ok the next morning you’re fine.

How did she manage to chew and swallow a packet of it raw? It must have tasted weird.

I'm going to look like a numpty next time I'm in store inspecting all the chicken packets and not buying any!

Can't get my head round how it can be safe to partially heat chicken like that. Maybe someone in the know will come and enlighten us as to the process.

I'm craving southern fried chicken now!

A chilled chicken pie most certainly says it can be eaten hot or cold, if it can be.

I don't know exactly how they make the batter look cooked, I have never been interested enough to find out, as they have been doing it all the 50 years I have been alive and I never realised so many people were assuming the chicken inside was also cooked if it didnt look like raw batter outside.

If you buy something from the raw meat section it should be obvious that it needs cooking

Colorants are just colour. That breadcrumb / batter is a solid structure and looks deep fried.

I can kind of see why they would think it was cooked from that photo, it does look cooked. But I also think it's a bit crap to leave her to get snacks from the fridge. Surely when you are looking after a child you'd sort their snacks out for them?

Colourants add the colour. I am not sure what they add to give it the solid structure. There may be some flash frying process. I don't know exactly. I only know they have been doing it as long as I can remember, and it absolutely astonishes me that some people appear to be only discovering it now.

They sound like complete eejits! Who on earth thinks feeding a child raw chicken isn't something to apologise for?! Do they generally struggle with literacy (i.e. would they have had a problem reading the packet)? That's the only thing I can think of that makes sense, they're embarrassed by their poor literacy and so have doubled down even though they know they're in the wrong.

I’ve never seen it, maybe because I don’t shop in that shop or buy ready made food.

tbf though, you’re suggesting it’s various things when you don’t have a clue either

Yes they definitely should've apologised and of course they should have paid attention and fed her properly with proper care taken!

Because not everyone has done Home Economics in school or been a nurse or studied Food Technology like I did😉.

Battered and breaded chicken is often flash fried for 30-60 seconds so the coating forms a crust (so it looks cooked) and any bacteria on the surface of the chicken is killed. As I said in a PP, Salmonella etc is found in the digestive tract but the bacteria can contaminate the outer surface of the chicken pieces during butchery. The chicken inside the batter remains raw.

Frozen battered/breaded chicken is then flash frozen after frying. I would assume chilled chicken is also rapidly cooled so it gets through the “danger zone” temperatures where any surviving bacteria could rapidly multiply. The rate of replication rate of bacteria is temperature dependent, the warmer it is, the faster they multiply.

You should treat things like chicken tenders like raw chicken because there is still the possibility that not all the bacteria were killed during processing. Food poisoning aside, they are raw inside so you wouldn’t want to eat them uncooked 😂

That said, your DD is more likely to be fine than get sick. The chicken would have to be carrying Salmonella etc, the chicken pieces would have to have been contaminated during processing, the bacteria would have had to survive flash frying, there would have to be enough bacteria that survived to make her ill. The infective dose for Salmonella is 1000, about 500 for Campylobacter. That is a lot of unlucky things that need to happen…

@AthWat

God, how passive aggressive.

I personally didn’t think the meat shown was completely raw because of the shape & firmness of the meat, not the colour! It’s given that the meat is coated and we can’t see a cross-cut of it, hence looking at other factors. You can’t be shocked that food that looks cooked, makes people wonder if it is cooked.

You seem unaware that retailers can and do sell these meat items cooked and partially cooked too.

As I said previously - I would check the packaging in any case.

DH bit into a raw chicken skewer and ate it before he realised it wasn’t cooked under the sauce. He was pretty ill with salmonella for a week. Symptoms started almost straight away.

@FGSWhatMoreCanISay it’s got a coating on it. How can you see whether the meat is cooked or raw?

It doesn't have to be that shop, every supermarket has loads of things like this!

If you don't buy ready-made food, that might explain why you weren't aware of this. And yes I am suggesting various things, all of which are certainly true - it's full of colourants, stabilisers and preservatives - although not denying there may be other factors also.

As you have never bought ready made food I can assure you that up close and personal, you can see the batter certainly isn't cooked in a proper or meaningful way. It looks like that for shelf appeal.

This is really interesting. Do you know why they’re sold raw? I don’t understand why they’re not just cooked and sold as a ready meal!

I buy similar; mostly raw chicken you have to cook but you will see by cutting one. Hope she is ok. Can’t believe not one was supervising her. I would be annoyed too

She didn’t eat the photo

I actually said earlier that they sell both cooked and uncooked. What amazes me is that so many other people seem to assume that everything with browned coating is cooked. I am not sure how they are not all dead.

Thanks @KnickerFolder that's interesting!

@SalfordQuays I've already conceded I was wrong! Shouldn't have been so confident...

In person I would have known but on photos I've learnt it can definitely be deceiving.