Chapter 3: Which Chicken Should You Throw Away Immediately?
Certain signs indicate that chicken should not be eaten. Recognizing them can help prevent foodborne illness before a meal is prepared.
First, discard chicken that has an unpleasant sour, rancid, or otherwise abnormal smell. Fresh raw chicken generally has a mild odor. A strong or unusual smell can indicate spoilage, although the absence of an unpleasant smell does not guarantee safety.
Second, pay attention to texture. Chicken that feels unusually sticky, slimy, or tacky may have deteriorated, particularly when these changes occur alongside an abnormal smell or appearance.
Third, inspect the storage conditions. Raw chicken should be refrigerated promptly at 4°C (40°F) or below. According to standard food safety guidance, raw chicken pieces and whole chickens should generally be used within one to two days when kept refrigerated. If you will not use them in that period, freezing them is a safer option.
Cooked chicken should also be refrigerated promptly and generally consumed within three to four days when stored properly.
Image 2: Properly packaged raw chicken stored separately from ready-to-eat foods in a refrigerator.
Chicken that has been left at room temperature for more than two hours should generally be discarded. In temperatures above 32°C (90°F), the recommended limit is one hour. Bacteria can multiply rapidly under these conditions.
Do not taste questionable chicken to determine whether it is safe. Do not assume that washing it, adding spices, or cooking spoiled meat will make it safe. Some hazards may remain, and certain bacterial toxins are not reliably eliminated by ordinary cooking.
Color changes alone are not always evidence of spoilage, but any combination of abnormal appearance, odor, texture, or unsafe storage should be taken seriously.