Will I poison my family if I serve this chicken?

[twin_mama]

I purchased two chicken breasts from New Seasons on the 8th. Packaging said to use by the 11th. It's now the 13th....

When I opened the package to cook the chicken, I caught a VERY FAINT wiff that maybe smelled like it was JUST STARTING to go bad. But very very faint and really....it just smells like chicken.

It's in the crockpot now but I'm wondering if I should just throw it out or serve it to my family (including two toddlers). I would really hate to waste the money/meat!

What would you do?

[nummies]

No, I wouldn't use it. Better to waste the meat than have sick kids on your hands.

[Three~Little~Birds]

Honestly - I wouldn't serve it either. If you serve it and they're sick, you'll be regretting it more than you'd regret the wasted money, I think.

I've been in that situation before, too. It's painful to throw away 'potentially' good food. I always hesitate, but err on the side of caution - especially since it's meat.

[riverscout]

I wouldn't toss it out if it was just starting to smell a little meaty but not really bad/spoiled. I think there is a little wiggle room on those dates. I would at minimum cook it for me and my husband although I might make sure I was a little extra careful to cook it thoroughly, but I could see maybe being a bit reluctant about the little ones. But really, I think I'd probably serve it to them too.

[Ruthla]

If it didn't smell bad when you took it out of the package, I'd go ahead and cook it.

I once ignored my instincts when chicken smelled and felt weird (kind of sticky) and cooked it anyway. I ate some and got sick (nothing major- just nauseated that evening and a bit the next day.) In the end, instead of wasting the money I spent on the chicken, I wasted the money I spent on the chicken AND on the other foods I cooked it with.

Since then I've been a lot more careful about cooking or freezing meat promply.