Irish warned on chicken fillet sell-by dates

A warning has been issued by the Irish Food Safety Authority about the handling of raw chicken fillets that are distributed to butchers in gas-flushed bulk packs before being sold loose to consumers.

A survey of butchers commissioned by the authority found that almost a quarter of them displayed what were termed “unrealistic” use-by dates on the fillets. As a result, it said, there was a strong possibility that they could end up smelly and inedible in family fridges.

The authority’s chief executive, Alan Reilly, warned that the situation was “not acceptable” and called on butchers to comply with food-handling guidelines. “Consumers should feel 100% assured that the chicken fillets they buy are of the highest quality and that the use-by dates on the food labels are correct,” he said.

There was an onus of butchers to adhere to best-practice guidelines when opening gas-flushed bulk packs, setting safe storage termperatures and applying use-by dates.

In response to the warning, the president of the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland, John Barret, said he would like to see improved training for members and hoped state agencies could help. The gas-flushed bulk packs were a very specialised type of packaging “and it is hard to expect the butcher to be up-to-date with it all”.