Chicken Left in Car Causes Dinner Dispute
One man’s refusal to eat a chicken left in a hot car has ignited a discussion on food safety, as detailed in a recent viral social media post. The incident unfolded on July 26 within a thread on Reddit’s ‘Am I the A–hole’ forum, which boasts 24 million members.
The Dinner Plan
According to the husband, the disagreement initiated when his wife decided to experiment with a new chicken and orzo recipe for dinner. “She ordered the groceries online this morning and then went to collect them around 11 a.m.,” he recounted. After returning home around noon, she unloaded the bags without realizing that the chicken sat in the trunk all afternoon.
The Temperature Dilemma
By 5:30 p.m., his wife was puzzled about the missing chicken, and upon discovering it, she claimed it was still “cool to the touch.” The husband, while agreeing it wasn’t warm, pointed out it wasn’t exactly cold either. “It’s safe to say it was somewhere between fridge temperature and room temperature,” he noted, as they had a high of 60 degrees Fahrenheit that day.
A Standoff Over Safety
Despite his hesitation, the wife insisted on cooking the chicken. The husband, not feeling comfortable with the situation, began researching food safety guidelines regarding how long a chicken could sit in a car. Ultimately, he proposed that his wife could cook the chicken while he prepared something else. “She’s not thrilled because she wanted to make this meal for me,” he shared, leading to further tension in their dinner plans.
Seeking Alternatives
Unwilling to compromise on consuming the chicken, the man expressed he felt forced into the situation. His wife decided to leave in search of a new chicken, prompting feelings of guilt in him as he acknowledged, “I feel like a bit of an a–hole about it.” He also recognized the wastefulness of potentially throwing out the chicken.
Community Reactions
The post quickly garnered over 2,000 responses, with many commenters supporting his apprehensions. “You know what’s worse than throwing out a chicken? Food poisoning,” one of the top comments stated. Another echoed similar sentiments, saying they wouldn’t eat the chicken either, reflecting a widely-held concern for food safety among users.
Some commenters, however, had differing opinions. Someone with extensive restaurant experience claimed, “I would’ve eaten it,” stating that since it was still cool and would be cooked fully, it was safe.
Food Safety Expert Weighs In
Bryan Quoc Le, Ph.D., a food scientist from Mendocino Food Consulting in California, assessed the situation from a professional standpoint. He warned that the risk associated with leaving chicken in a car for several hours is “very high.” He explained, “Bacteria grow very fast every 10 degrees higher than refrigeration temperature, exponentially so every 20 minutes.”
While he acknowledged that cooking the chicken could kill pathogenic bacteria, he cautioned that any toxins left behind could still pose a significant risk, underscoring that “it’s not worth the risk. A single chicken is not that expensive compared to the food poisoning you could experience.”
