Do you buy rotisserie chickens? Read this before your next trip to the grocery store

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Hot food options at the grocery store can make a delicious, convenient meal

But they can also be recipes for danger or even make you sick.

A Tucson woman told 13 News she’s wary of buying rotisserie chickens because of how long she’s seen them kept under a heat lamp.

“It had been there since nine in the morning. It was already a quarter to three in the afternoon,” she said.

So, 13 News talked to food safety experts about when a chicken is past its prime.

Amanda Anderson is the consumer health and food safety manager with the Pima County Health Department.

13 News asked if county inspectors look at how long something is under a heat lamp or is it something left up to the store employees.

“It’s going to depend on the store’s procedure,” she said. “They can either use temperature 135 degrees and above for whatever time frame they choose. We’re looking at safety not quality on that one,” said Anderson. “Or they can also do time as a control. So, if they use time, they can have it out there for four hours at any temperature, but then it has to be thrown away. They can’t be used at all after those four hours.”

That’s because bacteria grows at temperatures below 135 degrees and could be unsafe to eat after four hours. That means chickens kept in warmers below 135 degrees can’t be sold or repurposed into other deli offerings after four hours.

But if it’s sitting in a warmer that’s maintained at 135 degrees or higher, stores can repurpose and sell chickens indefinitely.

According to Anderson, quality is in the eye of the customer.

“And I thought that was crazy. So, I went to another store. Basically, the same thing happened. My third store I finally found one that had only been there two hours. So, I got that one. But I had to stop at three stores to get what I consider to be a half-way fresh chicken,” said a customer who didn’t want to be identified.

“Hopefully, they can pick something that has been cooked the same day. Because if you’re going to bring home something old, the shelf life is going to be less,” said Sadhana Ravishankar, a professor of food safety at the University of Arizona.

Ravishankar said there’s a pecking order when it comes to rotisserie chickens.

• Look for one that’s fully sealed in its bag.
• Pick the one that’s hotter as opposed to cooler.
• And check the time label, they’ll usually have a clock sticker that tells you how long that chicken has been there.

13 News visited several retailers over several weeks.

At one store we visited, Bashas’ on Thornydale Road, chickens didn’t have any time markings, just a “sell by” date.

According to the health department that is OK, as long as the temperature is kept at 135 degrees or higher. But is it?

We pressed Bashas’ for insight on its heated displays.

In an email statement, a Bashas’ spokesperson wouldn’t directly answer our questions. Instead telling us, “Bashas’ family of stores abides by all U.S. Food and Drug Administration Codes along with state and county regulations.”

We dug into county inspection reports and found the store scored an “excellent” rating with zero violations in March.

Another retailer, Walmart on Ruthrauff Road, sells chickens near the deli and self-checkout.

Multiple packages were marked 8:05 a.m., nearly seven hours old.

Again, that’s OK if the warmer is kept at 135 degrees or hotter. But there’s no way to tell whether the chicken is maintained at the proper temperature.

So, we asked an employee about how long they typically keep the chickens out.

“Should be four hours,” the employee told us.

It was past four hours, so the employee offered us a chicken that was almost done baking and said he’d also replace the older ones in the warmer.

Walmart corporate offices did not respond to requests for comment.

During its latest inspection, the store scored an “excellent” rating with zero violations in May.

13 News asked Anderson whether the health department does inspections on the warmers themselves.

“So, we’re not going to inspect the warmer. But we are going to check food at different parts of the warmer to make sure that it’s uniformly keeping food hot. So that the food is safe,” Anderson said.

Meantime, a customer 13 News talked with hopes for more clarity in the future.

“When they put the time on the package, they should have a limit to how long it can stay under the hot light or whatever else is keeping it hot and so that we feel safe. I don’t want to make my family sick or anybody else,” she said.

To avoid food-borne illness, Professor Ravishankar said to bring the chicken straight home.

• Eat or refrigerate it within two hours, sooner if it’s a hot day.
• Cut it into smaller pieces to help it cool faster.
• Try to finish it within five days, or freeze it before then.

13 News pressed multiple retailers in southern Arizona for clarity on its procedures for displaying hot foods for sale, including Walmart, Fry’s, Albertsons/Safeway, Costco, Sprouts, Whole Foods and Target.

Bashas was the only retailer who provided some transparency.

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