And im cooking it tonight, am i pushing my luck, smells ok to me!

How does it feel? Is it slimier or drippier than usual?

Where was it kept? Did you just buy it or had you had it in the freezer (defrosted today)?

Well it looks ok... its been in the firdge...

I tend to be a bit on the (overly) cautious side...

How long have you had it?

Conversely though, are you sure the date you're worried about is "use by" vs "sell by"?


This may provide some helpful info:

Food Safety of Turkey

If it's "use by" then have fun losing weight verrrry quickly along with the other potential yummy side effects... I wouldn't... but then that's just me...

NO do not eat it, i have had food poisioning and it is not nice better to be safe than sorry

If its sticky or smells bad then its the bin. Otherwise it is OK. Let your nose be your guide rather than the date. Its shelf life has more to do with storage conditions than packing date

But, do you really like Turkey? Its about the only thing I won't eat: tastes odd to me and I was going to add it of the Food Hell thread

I would use my nose too. But I would cut it up and cook it as a curry or as a casserole, to ensure that it is really thoroughly cooked, until it falls of the bones.

If it doesn't smell bad then just cook it and eat it, and enjoy it.

Ignore all the posters saying you should bin it. There is so much food wasted in the western world as people look at mis-leading date codes rather than use their nose and eyes.

Turkeys used to be hung in a cold room for days to improve the flavour.

On a slightly different note, the U.K. government is thinking about abolishing the best-before date on food as people think it means that anything past that date is dangerous to eat.

For the record, I quite often never get round to cooking and eating meat by the use-by date and I'm still here.

Bon appetite!

if the package was well sealed and it was properly kept cold you'll be fine.

one vote for eat the Turkey.


The vote of this user may not be used as carrying any legally responsibility for any potential problems arising from consuming said turkey; problems may include but are not limited to dry meat(it's turkey!), bland taste, or any other sickness short or long term. Any acts of god(Zeus Represent!)(power lose, flash flooding etc) will null and void this agreement.

ARE YOU STILL THERE ?????

Tell us how you got on.

Cook it, eat it and let us know the outcome. Or let it be!

Salmonella poisoning takes 6 to 72 hours after the infection to develop. The symptoms include diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps just to name a few and last 4 to 7 days. Dehydration is pretty bad.

I read up on this 2 days ago. I am on day 3 of 4 to 7. I followed my nose, the food smelled good (restaurant food). Apparently most people recover without problems, without having to go to the doctor and without antibiotics. There are worse outcomes though.

Let me just tell you! Having food poisoning stinks! So be careful!

I would agree that if you feel it's been kept in perfect condition,(fridge etc.), would be my own judge rather than be a slave to a sell by/use by date.
However if you have doubts bear in mind you can't smell, see or feel Salmonella (unless inside your own body that is...).
I eat turkey more than any other meat. Still alive, but I am careful.

Bu there's a difference - you don't know what the hell is going on in a restaurant kitchen. You know what you are doing at home.

Hope you get well soon - are you going to name and shame the restaurant?

Exactly...!!

you'll never know if it's good or bad unless you get your nose right up inside of it..

Not worth it on this channel... it's not in Switzerland otherwise i might. If you need 5star hotel suggestions around Sao Paulo let me know. I can tell you which one not to go... or at least not for dinner. Otherwise the hotel is awesome and service excellent.

Thanks for your comments and advice!

Well im still alive, there was a dry manky bit which hadn't kept fresh as it was hanging out of the celophane(i had already eaten one breast you see). So i cut that bit off.

I agree with Tom i too waste far too much at times, and just thought hey it smells ok.

Anyway it was a very thin slice and i proper cooked the bastard to death, so i guess if there was any Salmonella i killed it! Tasted normal after i bastardised it with my homemade roux. Hey pop over to mine for dinner sometime

Here you are worried about cooking a turkey two days over the "use by date".
Yet "game" (pheasants etc) actually "hung" to kind of go off for more flavour.
If you cook it properly, you would have no problem anyway.
And even if it had gone off, the worst you would get is probably the runs; and just read the threads in this forum about loosing weight and the expense people go into loosing a few pounds/kilos.

You make it sound so tempting. Why would anyone refuse?

You were smelling cooked food which will just smell of sauces; if you had smelt the raw meat you may have noticed it.

I've only had food poisoning twice. Once in Frankfurt around 12 years ago in a Turkish restaurant, and once in an Italian chain in the UK (Carluccio) who sent me four bottles of good wine after I emailed them to say their lasagne was off.

Considering the fact I'll happily cook any food I find in the back of my fridge, regardless of any sell-by or use-by dates I've never been ill from food I've cooked myself.