I'm an idiot and I already ate it

April 10, 2018 11:42 AM

I ate some vacuum packed defrosted salmon, not realizing that my roommate took it out a week ago. How screwed am I and what do I do?

So I ate a defrosted package of Costco Atlantic Salmon that was vacuum sealed and then I found out my roommate took it out a week ago. I fried it and ate it like an hour ago, and I'm starting to come down with some sweats. How do I get myself out of this mess? I heard that you could take activated charcoal, but I am down for anything so I don't get a food poisoning bout. I feel stupid but I was really hungry and trying to save money, so I just cooked it without checking first.

posted by yueliang to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

Best answer: It's almost certainly fine. If it had gone bad you would have known it the second you opened the package. You don't even want to know how long it can be between some dude harvesting a piece of fish and you eating it... The sweats are probably psychosomatic.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]

Response by poster: Also it smelled a little bit fishy but I didn't really notice anything strange about it.
posted by yueliang at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018

Best answer: Are the sweats because you're actually feeling sick or because you're worried you're going to be sick?

I once accidentally ingested filthy water with cat litter in it and my doctor just told me to wait and see what happened. Nothing happened.

I'm not a doctor or anything but I would wait until you actually get sick before you start to worry. There's a very good chance nothing at all will happen, especially if you didn't notice anything was off before you cooked it.
posted by bondcliff at 11:47 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]

Best answer: It was refrigerated, right? You're probably fine. Most fresh fish for sale is that old, or even older. The fish having been previously-frozen and vacuum-packed probably helped it retain freshness. Even if it was off, you're unlikely to get ill, and since it tasted unobjectionable, I'd say you're entirely in the clear.
posted by halation at 11:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: You're probably fine, and even if you do have food poisoning (you'll know for sure soon!), you'll be fine in a day or two or three.
posted by mskyle at 11:54 AM on April 10, 2018

Best answer: Generally when fish is off, you can tell because it stinks to high heaven. I once accidentally made fish pie with fish that was off, and when we sat down to eat the finished product we could immediately tell that it wasn't OK from the first mouthful.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 11:55 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]

Was it refrigerated? I wouldn't think twice about it.
posted by cooker girl at 12:13 PM on April 10, 2018

Yeah, nthing that you would know with the first forkfull, if even that late. Bad fish is unbearably fishy, bad chicken or beef will smell of ammonia, you will just know it's off from the get-go.
posted by vignettist at 12:19 PM on April 10, 2018

And symptoms almost always occur with a much longer delay than an hour, so whatever you're feeling is almost certainly psychosomatic. The bad news is that you'll have to wait a while to know for sure, but agree with above that if you didn't notice any off taste, you should be fine.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:29 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]

Go to your cupboard and take out your bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar. Fill up a small shot glass and down it. The acid will kill off the bacteria that would give you food poisoning. (it may also give you a temporary raspy voice due to the acid burning a little of your throat.)

It burns a little, but tastes ok and overall not a terrible drinking experience.

As someone who eats out a lot, I've had my share of food poisonings. This is a quick home remedy I've tried and yes it does work. In my experience usually you still get a little sick, but not nearly as sick as you would if you did not take the ACV. It works best is you drink it sooner rather than later. The longer you wait after eating the food, the less affect it has.

True story: After an entire party of people ate a bad batch of deviled eggs, those that had the eggs many hours prior already had the worst of symptoms, so the people who didn't feel symptoms yet were offerred Apple Cider Vinegar at my suggestion. The host only had a little bit left on hand and so only a few people got some. They didn't listen when I suggested they buy more for the rest of the people who ate them. (Probably because they didn't believe it would work). The people who drank it were the only ones who either didn't get sick at all, or if they did get sick their symptoms only lasted a short time. The ones that didn't have any were very sick for a period of about 18 hours.

Apple Cider Vinegar.
posted by fantasticness at 12:52 PM on April 10, 2018

The acid will kill off the bacteria that would give you food poisoning.

The stomach's pH is 1.5 to 3.5. A shot glass of pH 2.6 vinegar is unlikely to tip the scale between food poisoning and not.
posted by Candleman at 1:15 PM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]

ACV is known as a home-remedy anti-emetic, but I'm not sure it's because of the pH -- or if that's more than woo. If it helps with food poisoning it's probably because of that effect, not because it acidifies the bacteria.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:11 PM on April 10, 2018

Response by poster: Update - it's been a full day and I had a great day of classes, which reminds me I should probably go update my last Ask. My sweats went away almost immediately after all of you very smart and knowledgeable people reassured me that I am probably not going to be in pain <3 I also have learned many things about fish and that people...dry age...fish. like steak. who would have thought.
posted by yueliang at 9:38 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]

Yay I like when we get updates in these types of Asks thank you.
posted by artificialard at 11:18 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Another update - I was quite daring and used salmon that was defrosted for 5 days to make salmon poke, and that was delicious. If you have a sensitive stomach, I wouldn't really do that, but my stomach seems to be made of teflon so I am okay.
posted by yueliang at 12:33 PM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]