Can you get sick from eating expired quail?

In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “Can you get sick from eating expired quail” with an in-depth analysis of the health implications of eating expired quail and quail eggs. Moreover, we are going to discuss tips to properly store quail.

So without much ado, let’s dive in and figure out more about it.

Can you get sick from eating expired quail?

Eating expired or bad quail meat is associated with food poisoning owing to the presence of E.coli, Campylobacter, or Salmonella on quail. So if due to any reason, bacteria somehow found their way to your quail meat and have spoiled it then the best thing you should do is to discard it.

The most common case that you can see regarding the consumption of spoiled quail meat is the incidence of food poisoning. 

As the quail belongs to the meat group that is a highly perishable food commodity and can have E.coli or Salmonella present in it which can cause food poisoning which is characterized by abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.

Therefore you should immediately take medical help and try to drink as much water as possible so that while the body is getting rid of the toxins in form of diarrhea and vomiting, the water that you drink will protect your body against dehydration that vomiting can otherwise result in.

It is worth mentioning that it is the “use by” date that you will find on the packaging of quail meat instead of the “expiration date”.

The use-by date refers to the date that is marked on the packaging of the perishable food commodities and it refers to the time by which you should consume that food. When it comes to commercially frozen quail meat, it stays good for about 6 months when stored properly in the freezer. 

You should do a sensory evaluation of the quail to reach a final verdict on whether or not it is still suitable to consume.

 Certain indicators point out bad quail, therefore you should consider the color, texture, and smell of your quail to reach a final verdict whether it is still suitable to consume or if it has gone bad.

Color 

If you can notice that the color of the quail meat has changed to greyish green then it is the indication that your quail is past its prime time.

Texture 

If you feel something slimy or gooey while touching the quail meat then it means that your quail meat has gone bad and it is better to discard it. 

But keep one thing in mind that rinsing the quail meat won’t help you in this scenario as you won’t be able to get rid of the bacteria. Rather rinsing the bacteria-laden quail meat will put you at risk of cross-contamination as the bacteria will spread in the utensils and other food items that will come in contact with the water from the quail meat that has gone bad.

It is worth mentioning that you should wash your hands thoroughly after touching the bacteria-laden quail meat or else the bacteria will transfer from your hands to any other thing that comes in contact with your hands.

Smell 

If you smell something acidic or sour while taking a sniff test of your quail meat then it means that your quail meat has gone bad and you should discard it.  

Thus, you should consider the points discussed above while deciding whether or not you are going to eat quail meat.

You can read about Coturnism here.

On the other hand, when it comes to quail eggs, properly stored eggs stay good for several weeks, and eating quail eggs that are past the printed date on them won’t make you sick provided that they are stored properly and there are no signs of spoilage associated with them.

Moreover,  the way you have stored your eggs also impacts the shelf life of the eggs. Generally, eggs last for about 6 weeks when stored properly in the fridge. On the other hand, if you are storing quail eggs in a cool, dry, and dark corner of the pantry away from direct sunlight and heat, they last for about 4 weeks there.

You can check the freshness of your quail egg from a simple test. What you gotta do is fill a bowl with water and suspend quail eggs in it. 

  1. If the quail eggs lay on the bottom of the bowl that means that they are fresh and you should go ahead and use them. 
  1. If the quail eggs remain suspended or floating in the water that means that they are really old might already have gone bad, so it is better to discard such eggs.
  1. If your quail eggs do sink to the bottom of the bowl but they remain in an upright position, so it is an indication that the eggs are a few weeks old.

The eggshell is generally porous and the air can enter the egg through these pores. So the older the egg is the more will be the air content that has entered it. The air tends to make the egg lighter in weight therefore the older eggs float on the surface of the water rather than sinking and that is the principal lying behind this floatation test.

Conclusion

In this brief guide, we answered the question “Can you get sick from eating expired quail” with an in-depth analysis of the health implications of eating expired quail and quail eggs. Moreover, we discussed tips to properly store quail.

Citations

https://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/18130
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18963719/

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