Chicken meat is a budget, tasty and easy-to-cook product. Different parts of chicken can be used to make: soup, broth, chops, cutlets, as well as, for example, fillets can be added to salads. Chicken wings and shanks can be baked in the oven with vegetables and spices.

FoodOboz editors share helpful tips on how to choose fresh chicken meat and how to quickly identify spoiled meat. The information was published in Smaker.

How long can raw chicken stay fresh?

Chicken meat can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days! In the freezer at -18 C the meat can be stored for up to a year. Be very careful when storing meat at room temperature - up to 2 hours maximum.

It is worth noting that raw chicken meat can contain bacteria that cause food poisoning. Among such diseases should be noted: Salmonella and coli, which cause severe diarrhea, Campylobacter, which leads to the development of campylobacteriosis.

What fresh chicken meat looks like

Color

Quality chicken meat has a pink color. There should be no gray or yellow color on it. If this color appears on the meat, we must get rid of it as quickly as possible!

Smell

Fresh chicken meat should also have a delicate odor. Meat that is rotten usually has an unpleasant odor.

Structure

Fresh meat is always firm. When you press your finger, they should quickly return to their original shape. A rotten chicken has an irregular shape and is not as firm.

Liquidity and stickiness

If the meat is spoiled, it will ooze liquid and be sticky.

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How to keep chicken meat fresh?

Keeping the freshness of chicken meat depends on how it is stored. Meat will stay fresh longer if you put it in an airtight container and then put it in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it so you don't have to worry about it spoiling within a year. If the chicken meat has already been heat-treated - fried or boiled - it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days. Cooked meat will last a maximum of three months in the freezer.

Which meat stays fresh longer - packaged or by weight

Many people think that meat off the counter is fresher than packaged meat. The reality, unfortunately, is quite different. When buying packaged chicken meat, you have the opportunity to read the label. It has information about certificates, packing date, and expiration date. But meat by weight is often sold without such information. You can certainly ask the employee at the counter, but you cannot be 100% sure of the reliability of the information. In addition, when buying meat by weight, you can't be sure of its firmness, but you can easily touch the packaged meat.

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Also on OBOZREVATEL reported what part of chicken is the most harmful and why meat should not be washed before cooking.