Chicken smells like vinegar!

delta36

Alright, so this may seem like an obvious question, especially now that I've just typed the thread title, but I went to cook two chicken fillets last night, which were due to go off the next day (today). The pack they were in was unopened, I took them out, they smelt fine, I cut them up, still grand, it was only when I put them on the frying pan and they started to cook that I got a smell of what's best described as vinegar from them. The smell persisted for the few minutes I was cooking them and in the end I decided to throw it out because the smell was still there and slightly sickening.
Did I make the right choice here? Tried googling and couldn't come up with a concrete answer. It's just the fact that the chicken was sealed and in date that made me question whether it was edible or not.
Thanks!

nice1franko

Yeah, it can smell sort of vinegary when it's going rancid.

I'd have binned it too.

Dizzyblonde

When it comes to any kind of meat, trust your nose. I'd have binned them too.

vic20

Correct. "The nose knows" / "If in doubt chuck it out"

delta36

Fair enough so, thanks for the replys, guess I made the right choice!

Solair

Always trust your nose. It's evolved to protect you from food poisoning !

You subconsciously carry out a very sophisticated and complex chemical analysis of food with one sniff. In about 1 second you know more about the chemical make up, bacterial activity, etc than a lab could tell you in hours!

The main risk is where food's processed i.e. flavours / smells are masked and your noise is tricked & doesn't pick up on the danger signs.

If you're checking raw ingredients - sniff it, look at it, and you'll have a VERY good idea if it's not right.

If it makes you feel queazy - absolutely chuck it out.

Cedrus

Best before dates are arbitrary, your nose and eyes are much better judges of freshness.

Most people throw out perfectly good food because it has passed a date that is set by law but is perfectly good but it works the other way too when people insist on eating (or serving others) mead that is in date but clearly suspect.

delta36

Yeah, I figured if it was turning my stomach a little bit, it shouldn't be eaten by me! Just kinda annoying as it was in date, but glad to hear I wasn't just being paranoid.

rubadub

delta36 wrote: »

I went to cook two chicken fillets last night, which were due to go off the next day (today).

I never wait that close with chicken anymore. I often see poor practice by shelf stackers in my local tesco, food being left out while sorting shelves etc, and the open air fridges are not that cold to begin with. I prefer lidl who have closed fridges.

sweetie

rubadub wrote: »

I never wait that close with chicken anymore. I often see poor practice by shelf stackers in my local tesco, food being left out while sorting shelves etc, and the open air fridges are not that cold to begin with. I prefer lidl who have closed fridges.

totally agree, and I generally avoid supermarkets meat if I can. Try this guy for great free range meats - http://www.freerangemeats.ie/
He does a smaller 20e pack in farmleigh market with 4 large chicken breast in it too.

Faith

Food safety advice is not permitted on this forum. We cannot see, smell or touch the product, so how can we know whether it's safe or not? Trust your own instincts, and when in doubt, throw it out.