chicken sell by date..no use or freeze by date. is it safe?

[afraid213]

i bought chicken like 1 1/2 weeks ago...and on the package the sell by date is 10-6-14. it doesnt have a use or freeze by date....is it still safe? Theyre individually vaccuum packed chicken breasts.

[Syrup]

It's 5 days past the sell by date, I am usually pretty liberal with those dates, but honestly, I don't think it's suggested to go beyond 3 days. You can always do the smell/feel test. If it smells off and/or is at all slimy it's gone bad but really, I would chuck it.

[KimberlyP]

Where have you been storing it? If it's been in the fridge I absolutely would not eat it. I read on a government site (I can't remember which one, but it ended in .gov) that raw chicken is only safe in residential fridges for 1-2 days. The reason the grocery store has a longer fridge life is because the temp is heavily regulated by the store employees.

I just wouldn't risk it if I were you.


Edit: here is the website

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/storagetimes.html

[NicManri]

For future, if you don't plan on using right away freeze them.