9 Day Old Chicken Soup Cause Vomiting?

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KateH21

Assistant Cook
Joined
Oct 29, 2020
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Delmar
On December 21, my cousin's wife sent me home with a container of her homemade chicken soup. I took it and shared it with my parents, we all three had big bowls of it that night. On the 24th, my mother suddenly started having stomach pain, nausea, and ended up vomiting. She still felt ill the next morning (Christmas). We think she had food poisioning, but could not figure out what might have caused it. Then today I found out that the soup had been made on either the 13th or 12th. I'm wondering if that could be the cause. I typically don't eat food that's been in the refrigerator that long.

The only thing in it was chicken and seasonings. Knowing cousin's wife like I do, there's a possibility that it was left sitting on the counter for hours before it was put away. It's also possible that the chicken had been frozen and left to sit on the counter all day or overnight to thaw. I did wonder about these things before eating the soup, but no one in their house has ever gotten sick from the food.


What do you all think? What are the chances the soup was bad? I'm thinking maybe it didn't bother me and Dad because we both have acid reflux disease and were both off our meds at that time. I thought I read that the acid often kills bad bacteria.

I would love to have thoughts about the soup. The only other thing that might've caused the vomiting would be fish. On the 24th, Mom had swai for supper and me and Dad had Tilapia. The fish was bought frozen and had been kept in the freezer. We'd all eaten out of the bags before and no one got sick. There are usually 4-5 fish in those bags. The Swai was cooked a few minutes longer than what the instructions indicated. Mom has eaten fish before with no problems, but the last time she vomited, it was a few hours after eating fish at a seafood restaurant.
 
Kate, there is no way of knowing for sure without testing the suspected culprits. Including yourselves! LOL

But I would say off-hand the chicken was definitely not fit to eat. Plus, sorry to say, I would be extremely suspect of ever eating things given to me by her again. Especially now knowing her kitchen habits with proteins!

There is a chance your mom may be slightly allergic to something in fish. Again the only way to ever know is allergy testing.

Allergies are weird things, they come and go, they can get worse with time, they can get better with time. But I would not try to find out the hard way, testing medically is prudent.
 
9 day old chicken soup is totally the main suspect here. It can absolutely cause food poisoning.

It should be thrown away after 4-5 days.

Leaving it on the counter is also a major cause of food poisoning.
 
This is why I don't eat anyone's food but ours.

Not worth it. I have had customers send me home with home canned goods that were 10 to 15 years old.

Uh, thank you. Then into the bin it goes.
 
Nobody can be sure what happens to food when it travels along a "food chain". It can be stored improperly, for too long, or, even made with old ingredients to begin with..occasionally at the deli, we've had people bring stuff back that they said was off..I know for a fact that it shouldn't have been..They wouldn't admit that maybe they let it sit in their hot car for a few hours, put it in their fridge and waited 4 days to eat it...Vinylhanger is right..it tough to eat somebody else's food...my wife won't touch it..I feel a bit hesitant myself..
 
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Yes, sorry but it looks like your cousin's wife tried to kill you! Did you notice a weird taste and/or consistency to the soup? No more than 3 to 4 days in the fridge is a good general rule for any soup leftover (personally I think that's already a lot and I would freeze it after 2 days). On top of that, your mom might have eaten a bad fish, which would explain why she had a stronger reaction, combined to what you said about acid reflux (very interesting). But I'm frankly amazed that the three of you didn't spend the night vomiting from a 9 days old chicken soup (when I think I spend one night vomiting because of ONE slice of old ham!), you're a strong family!
 
Well look at the people allergic to some shellfish. Maybe some cook it so it is not a problem, others can't.

T
 
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