I steamed some clams seven days ago, and not all of them were eaten. I removed the shells and stored the flesh in a plastic container in the refrigerator. After seven days are they still safe to eat, since they were well cooked and refrigerated?
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1I hate to claim credit for this as an answer: stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/16892– Cascabel ♦Dec 11, 2011 at 19:31
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@Jefromi: Thanks for the link. If you would have posted it as an answer I would have happily handed you a +10 anyway since it looks like that site might be quite useful in general.– Bob McDec 11, 2011 at 19:42
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Yeah, it's handy. I just don't think it's complete information: certainly if you throw things out when it says, you'll be safe, but sometimes it's based on really paranoid FDA rules. And if you're careful how you store things, you can often do much better in the freezer.– Cascabel ♦Dec 11, 2011 at 20:25
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2I think when we give blanket advice online, we have little choice but to be paranoid. I'd much rather tell somebody what is certainly safe (within reason) and not worry, than tell them what is probably safe and later find out they got sick.– rfuscaDec 11, 2011 at 23:20
1 Answer
It's too risky for my tastes. Cooked seafoods (fin-fish and shellfish) are nearly a perfect growth medium for bacteria, so they have a particularly short shelf-life even when properly kept refrigerated -- perhaps three days. Here is a PDF from the Texas A&M Agricultural Extension Service with some useful guidelines.