Smell before you buy chicken fillets at the supermarket

[chicowoodduck]

Not to worry, I do the same with the ladies before I take them back to my room...?  No sense enjoying tuna on a champagne budget.....lol.....?

[mogandave]

The meat at Lotus is kept frozen until it goes out to the floor.

I’ve traded with them for years with only a few issues.

If you get their when they are stocking you can sealed bags of chicken breasts still frozen.

[janclaes47]

4 hours ago, mogandave said:

The meat at Lotus is kept frozen until it goes out to the floor.

I’ve traded with them for years with only a few issues.

If you get their when they are stocking you can sealed bags of chicken breasts still frozen.

Being frozen means nothing in Thailand.

 

I have seen on few occasions in different supermarkets pallets of frozen food standing in front of the freezer where they were to be supposed loaded, with all boxes soaked because everything inside was thawed already.

 

Yet later on they will be loaded in those freezers and frozen again.

[Vacuum]

On 8/11/2018 at 11:01 AM, davidst01 said:

I think its important to do a smell test before buying any fresh meats or poultry.

How can you do this without opening the package?

[mogandave]

Being frozen means nothing in Thailand.
 
I have seen on few occasions in different supermarkets pallets of frozen food standing in front of the freezer where they were to be supposed loaded, with all boxes soaked because everything inside was thawed already.
 
Yet later on they will be loaded in those freezers and frozen again.

I imagine you’ve seen any number of things.

How long does it take for a pallet of frozen foo to thaw?

How long does it take for condensate to start running off it?

In any event, I’ve been buying chicken at Lotus for 17 years and can count on one hand the number times it smelled suspect.

[Nielsk]

I stay 6 month every winter in Pratumnak and buy every week upper thighs and drumsticks, never chicken fillets (too dry for me).

I always buy from Tesco Pratumnak.  Packed fresh with a last date.  When last date, discount price.

Of course no chance of smelling. Although I make sure of the look. If not look fresh I don't buy. Sometimes I put a few in my freezer for later use.

For 8 Years I have never experienced bad smell so i had to throw it out !

Just my luck it looks like by many comments  !!

 

 

Edited August 12, 2018 by Nielsk

[mogandave]

I stay 6 month every winter in Pratumnak and buy every week upper thighs and drumsticks, never chicken fillets (too dry for me).
I always buy from Tesco Pratumnak.  Packed fresh with a last date.  When last date, discount price.
Of course no chance of smelling. Although I make sure of the look. If not look fresh I don't buy. Sometimes I put a few in my freezer for later use.
For 8 Years I have never experienced bad smell so i had to throw it out !
Just my luck it looks like by many comments  !!
 
 

Not luck, just a bunch of know-nothing food-snobs here talking smack to make themselves feel better about themselves...

[jimn]

On 8/11/2018 at 4:24 AM, Moonlover said:

I know it would horrify many readers, but my wife prefers to buy all our meat products from local markets, where there isn't a chiller in sight.

 

The only exception to that is when she buys meat from Thai/French beef outlets which is local to us near Sakon Nakhon.

 

She says the quality is better and she can tell, straight away if the meat is not fresh because there is no packaging to disguise it.

 

And I have to say that 4 years in and I have not had a single gastronomical upset thus far.

I used to think this until it was pointed out to me that the meat from the market was from animals killed that day. So very fresh.

[janclaes47]

1 hour ago, mogandave said:

 

Not luck, just a bunch of know-nothing food-snobs here talking smack to make themselves feel better about themselves...

And one who knows it all because HE shopped 17 years at Tesco

[Moonlover]

27 minutes ago, jimn said:

I used to think this until it was pointed out to me that the meat from the market was from animals killed that day. So very fresh.

Quite right. And without chillers, it has to sell on the day as well. This is why my wife and many other Thai housewives have confidence in the local markets.

 

They have a nose for fresh food and they cannot be fooled. A dodgy butcher would soon be out of business.

 

We sanitized western shoppers, who want everything neatly packaged and labelled, and date stamped of course, have lost the art of 'real shopping'. 

[Fex Bluse]

Seems many guys here shopping for sales.

 

Just as one poster earlier pointed to the obviousness of smelling meat before purchase (particularly in a developing, hot country), it should be common sense, given the business practices here, that anything heavily discounted should IMMEDIATELY 'raise the red flag' of caution and suspicion. 

 

I'm surprised every single one of us farang don't automatically know this stuff. 

[mogandave]

And one who knows it all because HE shopped 17 years at Tesco

I know people bashing Lotus as selling unsafe chicken are full of sashimi...

[janclaes47]

6 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

I know people bashing Lotus as selling unsafe chicken are full of sashimi...

That was a good try for a hit below the belt, going through my post history ?

 

Now try to improve your reading skills...........I never mentioned Tesco.

 

 

 

 

[mogandave]

That was a good try for a hit below the belt, going through my post history ?
 
Now try to improve your reading skills...........I never mentioned Tesco.
 
 
 
 

I never said you did....

That said you did mention it when you took a low blow at me.

Speaking of low blows, how’s your....

(Just kidding)

[tutsiwarrior]

at my local tescos which ain't much (a small sub tescos) the chicken (parts and fillets) are unwrapped and in a bin and ye get the attendant to weigh and price it for ye on the spot...I've never gone wrong with them...the pork is the same, not a  pre - wrapped package in sight...

 

at the local talaat it's the same but usually with crushed ice in the bin...and the chicken is fresh and not previously frozen and cheaper than tescos; a whole boned breast (2 attached half breasts) about 1kg for around 50baht and they also have chicken carcasses for broth purposes...and the stall lady has a nice towel to use after ye handle the meat...the pork is in a different aisle (no ice or refrigeration) and that stuff is so fresh that you could swear that it was still breathing...

 

a refreshing change to the anti septic conditions in western supermarkets where the packaged refrigerated meat looks like it's been sittin' in formaldehyde...

 

 

[fanjita]

Try the local fresh market.  Never had a problem.  My wife and MIL go early in the morning for the majority of the day's food and once or twice again during the day.  We only go to Makro for the imported beef which has always been excellent quality.  

[cliveshep]

Not just chicken but pork too - sometimes it is fine, sometimes not. This applies to Makro as much as to Big C and Tesco Lotus but even the local markets are not exempts. 

 

My wife has a nose that detects meat going off like you would not believe, but she also looks at the colour too, any dulling of colour, hint of grey or green and it's a no-no.

 

Smell before you buy, she always makes the market sellers let her have a sniff before she will accept it going into the bag.

[HauptmannUK]

My wife has a nose like a sniffer dog and spends ages carefully inspecting food before she buys. I think many Thai women are the same.  Only time we ever had any trouble was with some chicken bought from a local butcher in the UK.  No chance to inspect carefully and it was off when we got home.

[mogandave]

My wife has a nose like a sniffer dog and spends ages carefully inspecting food before she buys. I think many Thai women are the same.  Only time we ever had any trouble was with some chicken bought from a local butcher in the UK.  No chance to inspect carefully and it was off when we got home.

Your wife has a long hairy nose?

[meechai]

Flies land & lay eggs on those piles of uncovered meats

[chingmai331]

Cook your food in Thailand. Even if smelly, once cooked, OK to eat. 

But even in USA some foods are dangerous buys. I'm thinking of raw  salad foods, like greens and sprouts, processed far from your home and contaminated with fecal bacteria. 

 

The bottom line: cook your food.

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, meechai said:

Flies land & lay eggs on those piles of uncovered meats

I can remember pulling down a moose quarter from a tree and cutting off the fly blow before slicing off a chunk for a fry up.

 

If its cooked good everything bad dies. Just like the guy above said.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Nyezhov

[davidst01]

On 8/12/2018 at 2:02 PM, Vacuum said:

How can you do this without opening the package?

its in a poly thing with cling wrap on top. put your nose towards the plastic cling wrap top. Very easy to smell it

[dddave]

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

I can remember pulling down a moose quarter from a tree and cutting off the fly blow before slicing off a chunk for a fry up.

 

If its cooked good everything bad dies. Just like the guy above said.

Years ago, I was in the US Navy and was stationed in Morocco.  When I first arrived I had to sit through an orientation lecture on living in Morocco.  At one point, talking about local food, the lecturer warned to never buy hanging meat that DID NOT have flies on it; reason being that some vendors were prone to spraying meat with insect poison to make it appear more salable. 

[tutsiwarrior]

I was with some dudes on the tramp up outta Prince George in British Columbia in 1972 and we hired out on the Canadian National railway to work on a tie gang, replacing old bloated and weakened rail ties with new ones...CDN2.50 per hour looked pretty good when yew were broke...and they herded us into the cook car (everything was on the rails) and said 'yew boys look like you could use some food' when in fact most of us were starving as we used whatever change that we could scrounge to buy cheap red wine instead of food...

 

and we didn't care what it smelled like, we devoured what was put in front of us...and when we were finished we were herded out to the tie gang...looked like somethin' outta 'Cool hand luke'...and there a brutal indian presided with an axe handle who growled at us mercilessly; 'get up there and gang up on 'er ye sissies, we're wastin' time...'...and yew would look and wonder: 'why would ye want to abuse yer fellow species in this manner?...'

 

later an old crusty guy said: 'ye know dese guys whats been on de tramp dey ain't got no strent...'

 

a questionable humanity and associated brutality on a tie gang on the CN line somewhere between Prince George and McBride in canadian British Columbia...the scenery was quite nice and helped to mitigate the hardship I havta admit...and the indian foreman with the axe handle said: 'nice scenery ye say??? I'd rather have rotten pussy!!!...'

 

he was low to the ground and wasn't thinkin' about stinkin' chicken...later 10 of us filthy creosote covered tie gang tramps converged on a youth hostel back in Prince George in a room intended for 2 persons and when they went to get us outta bed for breakfast they gagged at the smell and ran off...we all of us were dead to the world with dope and cheap liquor...it was the odour of brutality...

 

 

 

[dddave]

8 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

I was with some dudes on the tramp up outta Prince George in British Columbia in 1972 and we hired out on the Canadian National railway to work on a tie gang, replacing old bloated and weakened rail ties with new ones...CDN2.50 per hour looked pretty good when yew were broke...and they herded us into the cook car (everything was on the rails) and said 'yew boys look like you could use some food' when in fact most of us were starving as we used whatever change that we could scrounge to buy cheap red wine instead of food...

 

and we didn't care what it smelled like, we devoured what was put in front of us...and when we were finished we were herded out to the tie gang...looked like somethin' outta 'Cool hand luke'...and there a brutal indian presided with an axe handle who growled at us mercilessly; 'get up there and gang up on 'er ye sissies, we're wastin' time...'...and yew would look and wonder: 'why would ye want to abuse yer fellow species in this manner?...'

 

later an old crusty guy said: 'ye know dese guys whats been on de tramp dey ain't got no strent...'

 

a questionable humanity and associated brutality on a tie gang on the CN line somewhere between Prince George and McBride in canadian British Columbia...the scenery was quite nice and helped to mitigate the hardship I havta admit...and the indian foreman with the axe handle said: 'nice scenery ye say??? I'd rather have rotten pussy!!!...'

 

he was low to the ground and wasn't thinkin' about stinkin' chicken...later 10 of us filthy creosote covered tie gang tramps converged on a youth hostel back in Prince George in a room intended for 2 persons and when they went to get us outta bed for breakfast they gagged at the smell and ran off...we all of us were dead to the world with dope and cheap liquor...it was the odour of brutality...

 

 

 

And the meat in the stew was the last moose to cross the rails in front of the work train?

 

[observer90210]

After reading all the horror reports, one dares not imagine the quality of livestock in Thai restaurants ? ... but never fell sick to this day however.....so what to say ?

[trainman34014]

14 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

After reading all the horror reports, one dares not imagine the quality of livestock in Thai restaurants ? ... but never fell sick to this day however.....so what to say ?

When i first arrived here i spent a few weeks in a Condo 2 floors up and my veranda overlooked the back of a restaurant.   I was looking straight down on their open aired 'Kitchen' and anything aerial from where i was would have gone right into whatever they were cooking.   Anyway; after peering into their delightfully filthy work space for about ten minutes i realised that this place could be a serious health hazard to anyone who ate there.  However; it was always well patronised and when you walked past the front of the building you would never have guessed how bad it was at the back.  Over a period of three weeks i saw Rats walking all over food left out in the open, Meat left out of the fridge overnight, Cats raiding the leftover bin, Staff pissing through a hole in the back wall and not washing their hands before handling food, and even from the height i was at i could see Cockroaches crawling all over the place.

 

Whenever i see stories of people who just curl up and die when they get back to Hotels or become violently ill in 'mystery' circumstances i always wonder if they ate at this place ?

 

As the Mrs always says...''Be careful everything you do in Thailan' because nobody care you, only care money''  !

[tutsiwarrior]

2 hours ago, dddave said:

And the meat in the stew was the last moose to cross the rails in front of the work train?

 

nah...the cook car had a good pantry as they hadta offer good meals to folks that hadn't much else...the bunk car had no screens in the winders and was parked in the middle of a swamp, heavy snowfall the previous winter...and ye got bit to shit by mozzies as big as a small bird where ye weren't covered up while sleepin'...

 

 

 

[swissie]

Now it's in the open:

There are no "mysterious-Farang-deaths" in Thailand.

- 10% die of natural causes.
- 45% die because they jump off balconies.
- 45% die of food poisoning.
Now we know.
Cheers.