To cancel a camping trip

[BristolZoo]

Yesterday afternoon my kids (9 and 11) accidentally ate some raw chicken.
It was from one of those breaded chicken packs, which they thought was pre-cooked, but wasnt.
Ive had a good Google and it says that they could be ill in around 2-3 days time.
We are supposed to be camping this weekend and the thought of camping with two kids with food poisoning is awful to say the least!

DH thinks im nuts because they seem fine today. But we'll lose the money of we dont cancel today.
I cant decide!

Raw chicken doesn't inherently make people ill - it's that chicken can carry bacteria called salmonella and/or campylobacter, which if not killed by heat can make people ill. But only 5-7% of chicken carry these bugs in enough quantity to make people ill, so even if you eat raw chicken, you much more likely to be fine than you are to get ill.

I’d risk it.

They can't have eaten too much before realising it tasted odd. And realistically, if they are going to be sick it would happen sooner than in 2-3 days.
They will be fine.

Thanks. I dont think they ate much, just a mouthful or so before I stopped them.
Its covered in breadcrumbs so hopefully M&S have done something to it like cooked it a bit before packaging 😬.
We are supposed to be leaving tomorrow afternoon so I guess ill just have to wait and see!!

The character of Chris in Ann Droid made himself a raw chicken breast smoothie and was sick a minute or two later.🤮
Using that as my in-depth medical research, I would say they will be fine.👍

Hahah. Funnily enough I watched this yesterday and was thinking the same!
Your research sounds as reasonable as mine.

I could not even think of one reason to cancel, why the panic?

Not camping is always an excellent choice.

When I had food poisoning from a bad egg it was almost instantaneous the reaction I had. I was sick and had awful stomach pains for a few hours. I would say that if they are fine now they should be fine. Obviously I’m not a medical professional though!

I read online that food poisoning from chicken takes a few days to show itself.
Imagine being in a tent, in a field, with few toilets or showers and two kids who are shitting themselves and being sick!

I cant think of much worse.

I once ate some breaded chicken thinking that I had cooked it before putting into the fridge but I hadn't. I am very risk adverse when it comes to cooking food to the point that everything is overcooked but I wasn't ill after eating the chicken. Admittedly, I haven't bought them since because the thought of what I'd eaten was enough to put me off.

When my daughter ate chicken at a restaurant she was ill within 3 hours of eating it so if your children are fine now then they should be ok.

My ex partner once did exactly the same - thought you could eat them cold (in fairness, some
of those “picky bits” type things you can). He was absolutely fine afterwards. I think they are part-cooked anyway as they are in breadcrumbs & they certainly don’t look like raw meat inside.

They couldn't have eaten much at all? Surely it tasted vile so they didn't have more than a nibble?

I'm an emetophobe so I would be an anxious mess (although I'd be keeping my worry on the down-low) but even I'm not sure I'd cancel the trip.

Any scope for going a little later? IE going tomorrow afternoon if you were due to leave in the morning? So you're closer to the "safe" zone.

My friend, her husband and both children did exactly the same but they said you wouldnt have really known as the texture wasn't that different because it was minced. They were all fine!

Food poisoning is more likely to take hours as opposed to days to start showing symptoms.

Whilst the digestive process varies, bacteria in food both uncooked/undercooked or gone bad stimulates gastricly causing food poisoning symptoms, if you do not have problems like diarrhea you are likely not going to get further symptoms.

Wouldnt it be simpler just to tell your dh you dont want to go, they are not sick

@BristolZoo Go. If they do start to be unwell you can come home. It’s better then cancelling and then they not be sick at all.

Campylobacter can take up to a week yo show symptoms HOWEVER I do think you should still go, because you could get food poisoning from just eating out somewhere and having bad luck, but you wouldn't cancel a trip after every restaurant visit.

All of that to say I think they will be fine, they can't have eaten that much of it before realising. I think still go but maybe take a contingency plan (sick bags) if it'll ease your worry.

Thanks. These replies are reassuring.
I had a look at the rest of the pack and it must be partly cooked as the breadcrumbs are cooked and the top layer of chicken is white. It is difficult to tell to be fair.
They both said they only had a mouthful so I may be over reacting a bit (I hope!)

Took my daughter 5 or 6 days to get sick from raw chicken, she ended up in hospital with salmonella…. I’d say keep an eye on them but go home if you need to

I was nearly sick watching that. Great series though.

Not with salmonella it can take up to a week

I said 'more likely to' and also salmonella symptoms are also more likely to appear within hours to days with most people experiencing sickness or feelings of sickness within 12 - 72 hours due to an incubation period of 6 hours to 6 days.

My son recently ate 2 large Greggs type sausage rolls that had been in his school bag, unrefridgered, in front of a radiator which had been on most of the time for 4 whole days. I was prepared for a very ill child, he was absolutely fine and that has changed my thinking on the liklihood of getting food poisoning somewhat!

I've eaten raw chicken. On purpose. In Japan they eat chicken sashimi in some areas. I was fine. As were all my fellow diners. If the chicken was in date then they'll most likely be fine