A week ago? I would throw it away.

Same here.

If it smells fine, I would cook it. guessing ti was still icy after 2 days....and cold the rest of the time.

Chicken starts to smell pretty quickly. I agree with Linda. If it smells fine, cook it thoroughly and it should be fine.

How cold is your refrigerator?

dcarch

Agree with everyone who says if it doesn't smell, it's okay to cook. On the other hand, "when in doubt, throw it out."

I'd toss.

Ditch the chick.

Sol

I'm in the camp of "let your nose be your guide". IMPE, a frozen chicken takes more than 1 day to thaw - more like 3, if it came directly from the freezer.

I think we all know what spoiled meat smells like...

I have been to countries where there was no refrigeration. When the meat smelled, they just washed off the smell and cooked and at.e.

dcarch

DITCH it! Countries that don't also have a higher rate of dysentery and other gut issues. Furthermore, those people's GI systems are more adjusted to bacteria than those in westernized nations. I'm not one to quickly toss something, but defrosted after a week? I'd definitely not take the risk.

I don't think there is any risk, once it's cooked thoroughly - what bacteria can survive that? But it could be spoiled, as in rancid, etc. You can tell pretty easily, when raw, if chicken is spoiled. I'd use the sniff test. It also depends on your source for the chicken and how long it was packaged before freezing.

"---Countries that don't also have a higher rate of dysentery and other gut issues. Furthermore, those people's GI systems are more adjusted to bacteria than those in westernized nations.---"

We (USA) are very "healthy" compared to those areas. That's because we spend every year $3,350,000,000,000.00 in medical/health care, and that does not include all the chemicals for cleaning and sanitizing you buy for your home.

dcarch

DC, a bald figure like that is meaningless. How about a per capita comparison?

I wouldn't eat leftover chicken that was a week old let alone uncooked.

"plllog

DC, a bald figure like that is meaningless. How about a per capita comparison?"

Too many factors for comparison,.Perhaps this?

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS

The point is, we spend a huuuuge amount of money to keep us artificially alive.

dcarch

The point is the O.P. was vacillating about whether to use half a chicken. Half.

I suppose you'd have to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya?

Seriously, is half a chicken (or even a whole bird) worth a trip to the ER?

Sol

I really would like to know what would send one to the e.r. in this situation...if the chicken had bacteria from being in refer too long, wouldn't cooking it kill the bacteria? It may be past prime, not even worth cooking because it was spoiled, which the sniff test would reveal. But if it didn't smell bad/spoiled, could you really get sick from it if you cooked it thoroughly?

I understand if it were previously cooked and in the refer that long, it would ruin it to get it hot enough to kill bacteria (plus it would taste gross after that long after cooking). I wouldn't touch that.

I'd like to know - I alway err on the side of safety and palatability, but am curious about this.

D.C.-The question was about whether chicken was safe to consume. It appears that you are saying food safety and cleanliness are over rated.

So what did you do, cook or toss? I buy whole chickens on sale for about 80 cents a pound. A half chicken would be less than $2 worth, and I think my response would have been toss. If I'd gotten to it in 3 or 4 days and it smelled fine, likely would have cooked. But, see this:

US Dept Ag:

one to two days

Answer: If you thawed the chicken in the refrigerator, you don't have to cook it right away. Poultry that's been defrosted in the fridge can be safely kept for an additional one to two days in the refrigerator before cooking, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It's not about the bacteria that will be killed by cooking, but by the toxins that the bacteria may produce....but I will repeat...that chicken was not above the "danger zone" of over 40 degrees. If your refrigerator is properly cold, there should be no problems....and if there is bacteria growth....your nose will tell you very quickly. Eat up!

Remember, the Dept. of Ag. has to be far more cautious than normal healthy folks. If they say two days, people reading it will think five. If they're not there to smell it and be sure it's not rotten, and to cook it to make sure it's not underdone, they have to reduce their number. If they're not sure that the people who say they've defrosted in the fridge aren't counting the three hours on the counter before they put it in the fridge, they have to be cautious.

Even though we can all quote the 2 hours for unrefrigerated perishables, according to a food scientist, it's actually four hours if handled in a safe manner. The problem is the people who don't....

Dcarch, thanks. Per capita would be a better comparison, but percentage of GDP will do. New Zealand, on that chart, is 11% and Sierra Leone is 11.1%, whereas USA is 17.1%, which is a difference of about 43% from other high spenders. Of course, both the others have government subsidized health care. We have the cutting edge treatments for difficult diseases that people come here from all over the world to take advantage of. It would be helpful to know how much of that 17.1% medical sector is for general and ordinary care, and how much for things most other countries can't even offer the wealthy...

"Compumom

D.C.-The question was about whether chicken was safe to consume. It appears that you are saying food safety and cleanliness are over rated."

No. Not over rated. Just way overdone

dcarch.

agmss, now it really has to be dumped, I think. The issue isn't botulism, which needs an anaerobic environment, I'd worry more about salmonella, campylobacter, e. coli or other bacteria.

I tend to take calculated risks, but I'd toss that chicken.

Annie