How Long Is Chicken Good After Sell By Date (And Why)?

Exact Answer: Up to 2 days

Gallus gallus domesticus is the scientific term used for chicken. It is basically the subspecies of the red junglefowl. They are believed to have been originated from Southeast Asia.

They are domesticated all around the world. The adult male bird is called a cock or rooster whereas the young female bird is called a hen. They are domesticated for all the benefits associated with them.

Chickens are mostly domesticated for food these days. They provide meat and eggs to humans, that’s why their domestication is so widespread. These are omnivores and can feed on almost anything including worms and seeds. Hence, they are relatively easy to pet. Their life span is for about 5-10 years and is mostly found living in groups called flocks.

How Long Is Chicken Good After Sell By Date?

Chicken is consumed as food all around the world. Near to 50 million chickens are reared every year as a source of meat alone in the United States. The chicken that is to be eaten is called a broiler. The industry that deals with meat and egg production are called poultry farming.

Broilers take lesser time to reach the slaughter size as compared to other birds. The time taken by them to reach the size is 6 weeks or so. Chicken is prepared in a variety of ways including boiling, grilling, frying, barbecuing, etc.

Since chicken is meat, its chances of getting contaminated are very high. But it is to note that the sell-by date written on most of the meat items is done voluntarily and it is not guaranteed that the meat will go bad after that particular date.

Proper storage of the chicken meat can help prevent the meat from getting contaminated easily. Keeping the chicken in the refrigerator is the best option as it helps it stay fresh for a longer period of time. The following table shows how long chicken can be kept good after a sell-by date-

Why Is Chicken Good For So Long After The Sell-By Date?

Raw chicken is best to use before the sell-by date as it is in its fresh form. As soon as the sell-by date passes, the quality of the chicken starts to degrade. It is said that if the chicken is past one week after the sell-by date, it is too old to use.

This is because more and more bacteria keeps on growing on it after the sell-by date making it unfit for eating. Chicken when kept open can go bad after the sell-by date even quickly as it will keep on losing the moisture content and bacteria such as salmonella starts to grow on it.

The best way to keep the chicken preserved for a long time after the sell-by date is by refrigerating it. Keeping it in the fridge avoid its contamination by bacteria and other microorganisms as they cannot survive at such low temperature present in the fridge.

To freeze the chicken will help it stay fresh for 9 months or so. In this case, the sell-by date should not ven kept in mind. This is because in frozen meat no bacterial activity takes place. The moisture is retained in the chicken, hence it can be used at any point in time.

Conclusion

Chicken is the most consumed form of meat out of all. It is eaten everywhere including the USA, China, and India. It is consumed because of its nutritional value. It is high on energy. One chicken breast can provide up to 110kcal of energy. It is a very rich source of protein as well.

The main parts of chicken meat comprise chicken breast which is white meat. It is dry as compared to other parts. Chicken legs and wings are also eaten widely. They are moist as compared to chicken breasts.

Just like every other form of meat, chicken also gets degraded with time. That’s why packaged chicken sell-by dates and expiry dates are written. The sell-by date is not the same as the expiry date. The sell-by date doesn’t mean that the meat is unfit to eat. This date only represents that the meat should be consumed in the near time only or else it will start to degrade.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996919305174
2. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjz-2018-0130