Health officials once again warned consumers about the dangers of washing raw chicken before cooking it, citing the risk of spreading harmful bacteria to utensils or other foods. In a tweet sent out on April 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) linked to a series of steps that can help eliminate the chances of food poisoning while cooking at home.
“Americans eat more chicken every year than any other meat,” the CDC said. “Chicken can be a nutritious choice, but raw chicken is often contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria and sometimes with Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens bacteria. If you wat undercooked chicken or other foods or beverages contaminated by raw chicken or its juices, you can get a foodborne illness, which is also called food poisoning.”
The agency recommended placing raw chicken in a disposable bag before placing it in the shopping cart or refrigerator, washing hands with soapy water after handling it, using a separate cutting board to handle it, and never placing cooked food or fresh produce on the same surface as uncooked chicken.
Among other tasks, it also suggested using a food thermometer to ensure the chicken is cooked, and in bold the CDC advised against washing raw chicken because “chicken juices can spread in the kitchen and contaminate other foods, utensils and countertops.”
While food poisoning can be an unpleasant experiences for anyone, children under 5, people over 65 and those with weakened immune systems as well as pregnant women are at risk for developing serious illnesses. It is advised to call a doctor if temperatures reach over 102 degrees, diarrhea lasts more than three days, blood is found in stool, there is prolonged vomiting or if there are any signs of dehydration.
I don't get it. How is washing raw chicken contaminating utensils and other food, unless you wash it over top of or very near those items.
Not 100% sure, but if you are washing the chicken in your sink full of dirty dishes, the bacteria is sitting on those dishes. If you are then not washing those dishes properly after the fact....
Watched a demonstration once where they coated the raw chicken in something that only showed under a blacklight.... then the cook used all of the normal cooking safety precautions while preparing, then cleaned the kitchen thoroughly... afterward they turned off the light and ran the black light around, remnants of raw chicken juice was EVERYWHERE. Sink faucet, countertops, cabinet handles, utensils...
Watched a demonstration once where they coated the raw chicken in something that only showed under a blacklight.... then the cook used all of the normal cooking safety precautions while preparing, then cleaned the kitchen thoroughly... afterward they turned off the light and ran the black light around, remnants of raw chicken juice was EVERYWHERE. Sink faucet, countertops, cabinet handles, utensils...
Well, that cook is a moron then. It’s not hard to quarantine raw meat within your own kitchen. I wear gloves when I’m prepping the meat and I’m aware to not cross contaminate any handle or surface.
This was 20 years ago, I go to our apartment buildings sun deck to cook a steak. A woman comes down after me with two chicken breasts on a plate. She cooks them and then uses the same plate to take them back upstairs. I wanted to yell, “Enjoy your dinner and diarrhea.”
I treat raw chicken like it is covered in deadly poison, because it is.
Low pressure wash, only a trickle of water, no dishes in sink, wash hands, touch NOTHING, chicken washed goes directly in baking dish, wash counter, wash hands, container double-bagged while in sink, rinse off, wash hands, let bag drain in sink, put in third dry bag later, wash hands, wash counter, touch NOTHING, bag goes to trash, come back in and wash hands AGAIN.
Paper towels separated from roll and ready, used each time hands are washed, put into bag nearby and ready.
What the CDC is concerned about here is that at every step, your hands, the container, anything that has contacted the chicken or juice is now contaminated with diluted poison, which is actually bacteria which will multiply rapidly, so diluted is just as bad as original source. ISOLATE.
I have had a previous, very serious food-related illness. You are not paranoid enough.
I treat raw chicken like it is covered in deadly poison, because it is.
Low pressure wash, only a trickle of water, no dishes in sink, wash hands, touch NOTHING, chicken washed goes directly in baking dish, wash counter, wash hands, container double-bagged while in sink, rinse off, wash hands, let bag drain in sink, put in third dry bag later, wash hands, wash counter, touch NOTHING, bag goes to trash, come back in and wash hands AGAIN.
Paper towels separated from roll and ready, used each time hands are washed, put into bag nearby and ready.
What the CDC is concerned about here is that at every step, your hands, the container, anything that has contacted the chicken or juice is now contaminated with diluted poison, which is actually bacteria which will multiply rapidly, so diluted is just as bad as original source. ISOLATE.
I have had a previous, very serious food-related illness. You are not paranoid enough.
Way too much work. Just get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery, or KFC.
Cook all poultry, pork, and ground meats to a minimum internal temperature of 165F. Use a meat thermometer. The reason ground meats need to be cooked all the way through is because the bacteria on the surface of the meat gets ground up and distributed throughout the ground meat.
Steaks and other solid beef cuts need to at least be seared, to kill surface bacteria.
The bacteria on chicken is very, very much worse than on beef.
If I cooked it without washing it, it would sit in the fridge uneaten until I threw it away.
KFC is an absolute no go, unless I don't need to leave the house for several days. Grocery store chicken, well, mine is better.
Sure, paranoid. Ever had the heaves for several hours? Almost all day, every day, for months. My record for not leaving the room was 8 hours straight. I got to a point where I would just not eat, there would be a stretch of maybe 4-6 hours around the 2.5 day mark where it did not feel like I was going to puke in the next 5 minutes. If I timed it just right I could get almost a full night's sleep.
The bacteria on chicken is very, very much worse than on beef.
If I cooked it without washing it, it would sit in the fridge uneaten until I threw it away.
KFC is an absolute no go, unless I don't need to leave the house for several days. Grocery store chicken, well, mine is better.
Sure, paranoid. Ever had the heaves for several hours? Almost all day, every day, for months. My record for not leaving the room was 8 hours straight. I got to a point where I would just not eat, there would be a stretch of maybe 4-6 hours around the 2.5 day mark where it did not feel like I was going to puke in the next 5 minutes. If I timed it just right I could get almost a full night's sleep.
"Washing it" is not what people do. They rinse it. There is a huge, huge difference. People don't wash their chicken, or meat, they rinse it.
Chicken has bacteria on the inside and outside. As long as the internal temperature reaches 165F, the bacteria will die. Then you have to keep it out of the danger zone. The food service danger zone is 40-140F, for more than 4 hours. That is when bacteria begins to grow on food.
I've never even heard of washing chicken. My mom and then the wife prepare it, they cook it, and all is good. If I die from chicken bacteria, I'll start a thread about it.
Rinse is the correct word, and salmonella bacteria can be killed by heat, but the poison they excrete is not, they need air, the excreted poison is on the exterior of the food, and can be rinsed off.
Rinse is the correct word, and salmonella bacteria can be killed by heat, but the poison they excrete is not, they need air, the excreted poison is on the exterior of the food, and can be rinsed off.
The really odd thing is that food service, where an outbreak tied to a restaurant could be fatal to the business, disagrees with you.
I would add one more thing to the rest of people. Make sure you wash your hands and forearms with a good antibacterial soap after handling raw chicken. Leave the soap on for at least 30 seconds to allow it to do its work. Do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth until you disinfect your hands and forearms.
I always rinse any solid meat I am cooking off. With Chicken I also soak it in brine before I cook it and I rinse off the brine too. To me not rinsing meat is just nasty and gross because it directly affects taste.
I mean just clean your kitchen as you go is just a simple basic practise to me. I use a vinegar solution though since that is better for the environment and cleans better imho.
I Think it is important to understand what the CDC is saying, exactly.
Rinsing off raw chicken is an important food safety policy.
However, most people are too lazy and/or stupid to be just a little bit careful. If you rinse your raw chicken in a sloppy, haphazard manner, with no understanding of why you are doing it, you actually increase the odds of a negative outcome.
So, rather than attempting to educate people to be less lazy and stupid, they are bowing to the lowest common denominator and tell people to just not bother.
So......... I just asked the wife if she washes chicken before she cooks it (I know, you'd think I would have noticed after being married almost 13 years).
My powers of observation are just fantastical!!
Anyways, she said she washes all meats except ground beef when she cooks it. And said 'isn't that just common sense?'
I will say, when I was single I never washed my chops, steak or chicken before cooking. My mom taught me jack-**** about the kitchen, apparently. It's a wonder I'm still alive.
Hope your vinegar solution has a disinfectant agent in it, because vinegar doesn't alone kill germs.
I would also add that people need to be careful when mixing different cleaning agents. For example, mix ammonia and bleach, and you wind up with an extremely deadly vapor. A person could wind up killing not only germs ..... but everyone in the house.
Cook your food well, properly store it (before and after preparation), clean up after with plain old soap.
Forget zombie apocalypse. We'll probably get wiped out by some previously benign bacteria (or other biotic) that mutates and becomes resistant to treatment.
I Think it is important to understand what the CDC is saying, exactly.
Rinsing off raw chicken is an important food safety policy.
However, most people are too lazy and/or stupid to be just a little bit careful. If you rinse your raw chicken in a sloppy, haphazard manner, with no understanding of why you are doing it, you actually increase the odds of a negative outcome.
So, rather than attempting to educate people to be less lazy and stupid, they are bowing to the lowest common denominator and tell people to just not bother.
HONK HONK HONK EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE We interrupt this thread with a special announcement...
No!
The CDC is reissuing their previous warnings NOT TO WASH CHICKEN BEFORE COOKING IT!!!
We have had new outbreaks of illness over the past year!
Seems Neanderthals and the Ignorant did not heed the previous warnings and think they know better than the CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL!!!
DO NOT WASH CHICKEN BEFORE COOKING IT!!!
(we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.)
If you pick it up at the store, make sure it is, well cold, but has been cold and is in a well wrapped package that is not wet or leaky on the outside, cold, and safe from those awful juices.
Then, in your cart, don't let too much stuff touch the well wrapped dry cold package before and during checkout, but it in it's own plastic grocery bag, inside another one.
At home, store it in the refrigerator inside it's own plastic grocery bag, and don't look at the package too much, no need to contaminate.
When you get idea to cook it, first, get the cooking pans out and heat the oven until more than 425 degrees.
wait and get some foil out, aluminum foil and put the foil on the pan, and get spices, peppers ready to shake on top of the chicken, but leave the chicken in the frigerator in the store plastic bag.
After a while, 10 minutes, get the chicken out of the frigerator and put the plastic grocery bag inside the garbage immediately, then take the store packaged chicken, put it on the cooking pan, or stovetop, not a counter or sink.
Then the tough part. find a utensil, knife or whatever, and cut the plastic off the chicken package open, and in one motion, put the entire raw chicken out of the store's package and place on the foil covered oven pan... plus put the plastic and yucky juicy , store's container into the garbage. while put the knife on the foil covered oven pan.
when I say put the entire raw chicken, I mean with only one part of your hand, one hand.
Next go directly to the sink and wash the knife and your hands in liquid dish soap, hot water, while you used another hand to turn on the sink handle. Wash your hands and the knife a 2nd time. Then dry them off.
Then wash the sink handle with dish soap and hot water, then wash your hands again, then dry them, preferably with a paper, throw away type towel.
Then you can put pepper or what not, salt, stuff that doesn't do anything except fall onto the chicken, before it goes in the oven.
no rubbing, no touching of the raw chicken, no butters nearby, no liquids,
very quickly get the pan with the chicken on it, into the oven with a pot holder.
and I'd say, never, never, never, never, never use a cutting board. If I have to cut up foods, I'll do it on a dinner plate that'll go back into the dishwasher,
but don't cut up raw chicken, my gosh, why would anyone cut up raw chicken because the poisonous juices might splatter anywhere all over the kitchen.
Then you wait like 2 and a half hours to make sure your chicken is done, at 450 degrees. And halfway through you can add some things to cook along top of the chicken to make it better, things that don't take as long to cook, like fruits and vegetables.
I don't have any awful food poisoning stories to recount, because I don't remember any.
But I guess I don't know how to cook it so it'll taste good.
And I'd suggest the use of a meat thermometer and get the meat to way over the quote un quote safe minimum temperature.
You guys act like its frigging Ebola. Why don't you buy a hazmat suit while you're at it. Its chicken. Just make sure you cook it enough. Then wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant and wash your hands.
You guys act like its frigging Ebola. Why don't you buy a hazmat suit while you're at it. Its chicken. Just make sure you cook it enough. Then wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant and wash your hands.
Maybe as the water droplets splash around the kitchen and you, things get contaminated.
That's my guess as well. Splashing water, depending upon how high you have the faucet turned up, can easily get up to a couple of feet away from the sink; anything those droplets land on - including just the counter top itself - it a source of cross-contamination.
Kitchen Work 101: handle chicken separately and away from everything else; wash everything after touching it; touch nothing before washing.
You guys act like its frigging Ebola. Why don't you buy a hazmat suit while you're at it. Its chicken. Just make sure you cook it enough. Then wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant and wash your hands.
It really is that simple, but you need to be aware of the issue and the best practices in order for it to be that simple
You guys act like its frigging Ebola. Why don't you buy a hazmat suit while you're at it. Its chicken. Just make sure you cook it enough. Then wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant and wash your hands.
Hope your vinegar solution has a disinfectant agent in it, because vinegar doesn't alone kill germs.
I would also add that people need to be careful when mixing different cleaning agents. For example, mix ammonia and bleach, and you wind up with an extremely deadly vapor. A person could wind up killing not only germs ..... but everyone in the house.
My family has been using only vinegar diluted in water to clean with for well over 100 years and we never get food poisoning. Let me tell you we have cooked a lot of fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, and grilled chicken, etc and no one gets sick.
The trick with cleaning with vinegar is not to wipe it up but to just let it evaporate naturally. If it doesn't stink then you didn't mix enough vinegar in the water has always been our rule of thumb. White vinegar is an acid and will definately disinfect. It just takes longer to work which is why you just let it evaporate. The benefit though is no toxic or harmful chemicals in your house.
Things like bleach are really bad for your home. Yes it will kill the flu virus but it also kills helpful bacteria too which creates a vacuum for bad bacteria to grow back in even faster. Your far better off having minor exposure to some bacteria so your body is always having an immune response to it.
To each their own though. I am going to keep using what works though. We don't get food poisoning and it's rare when we get the flu too.
It is a low probability for a negative outcome, but that outcome can be extremely negative. For the very young or very old, and those in poor health, it can be lethal. It is very easily avoided with some very simple precautions that do not take very much time or effort.
I fail to understand the problem.
You all look both ways before crossing the street, right?
It is a low probability for a negative outcome, but that outcome can be extremely negative. For the very young or very old, and those in poor health, it can be lethal. It is very easily avoided with some very simple precautions that do not take very much time or effort.
I fail to understand the problem.
You all look both ways before crossing the street, right?
True, but I don't post crossing guards with anti-tank missiles every time.
Some things are just overkill and have other consequences.
I wouldn't compare cleaning your food and washing your hands to anti-tank missiles, and see no negatives whatsoever to the process. I don't do the heavy anti-bacterial thing.
I just ran into a guy I hadn't seen for a while, turns out he accidentally swallowed a toothpick, didn't know it for a while, almost died, had one surgery, with another one in several months. Lots of unpleasantness.
He is much more careful about what he eats now.
The reason for that is that he has experienced a highly negative consequence for not being careful about what he ate.
It's all a matter of perspective and experience.
I'll have to ask him how he treats his chicken next time I see him. I'll bet money he rinses it and washes his hands.
My mother used to make stone soup. Mom would go out into one of the foundation beds and dig around for a good-sized stone, bring it in the house and wash it carefully, before placing it in her stockpot and filling it with water. After boiling the stone for an hour, she'd throw in some chicken and vegetables and spices and let all that simmer for a few hours. At some point, she'd remove the stone, and throw in some noodles for a few minutes. I'll tell you what, that stone soup was the best soup I ever had. I still don't know how she did it.
I mean really is there anybody that doesn't rinse off their chicken after it sits in package with blood and old juices? I always have and always will rinse it off. I mean it's common sense isn't it?
I mean really is there anybody that doesn't rinse off their chicken after it sits in package with blood and old juices? I always have and always will rinse it off. I mean it's common sense isn't it?
What makes it common sense? The blood is from that specific chicken that you're eating, why would that blood be bad? "Old juices"? What's that? If the chicken is soaking in "old juices" then it's now part of the chicken. Meaning, the cells are absorbing that juice, you can't wash it all off, it's within the chicken now. So, why bother? The stuff on the outside of the chicken is part of the inside you're eating.
Because you should rinse off some of that old bacteria and blood and juice it has had on it since it's bin sitting in package. You can't wash it all off true but you can get alot off by rinsing it.
Because you should rinse off some of that old bacteria and blood and juice it has had on it since it's bin sitting in package. You can't wash it all off true but you can get alot off by rinsing it.
I get that, but if you aren't getting it all off, why it is a need then? Heck, you're about to cook the chicken, which will kill all external and internal bacteria. Therefore, washing isn't a need then.
Plus, if you're worried about the "toxic" juice the meat is sitting in prior to cooking, maybe you shouldn't be eating the meat.
Because you should rinse off some of that old bacteria and blood and juice it has had on it since it's bin sitting in package. You can't wash it all off true but you can get alot off by rinsing it.
I get that, but if you aren't getting it all off, why it is a need then? Heck, you're about to cook the chicken, which will kill all external and internal bacteria. Therefore, washing isn't a need then.
Plus, if you're worried about the "toxic" juice the meat is sitting in prior to cooking, maybe you shouldn't be eating the meat.
For the same reason I don't baste my chicken with the blood from the package.
Because you should rinse off some of that old bacteria and blood and juice it has had on it since it's bin sitting in package. You can't wash it all off true but you can get alot off by rinsing it.
I get that, but if you aren't getting it all off, why it is a need then? Heck, you're about to cook the chicken, which will kill all external and internal bacteria. Therefore, washing isn't a need then.
Plus, if you're worried about the "toxic" juice the meat is sitting in prior to cooking, maybe you shouldn't be eating the meat.
For the same reason I don't baste my chicken with the blood from the package.
Yes, but that's not what we're talking about (using the juice for a purpose). Is the juice so awful that common sense would demand you wash it off?
I brine my chicken (Salt+BrownSugar+Thyme). During that long soak, the cells absorb the brine bringing salt, sugar and thyme flavoring into the meat. Meaning, the chicken is taking in the "old juice" too. Therefore, washing serves no common sense purpose. You can if you want, but it's not preventing "old juice" or bacteria from entering your mouth.
It is preventing some of the bacteria from entering your mouth that's why.
If you cook your chicken properly, checking the internal temp, it won't matter if you wash or not wash the chicken. That's my point (and Pit's). It has to serve a functional purpose, otherwise, it's optional, and it's not something done via "common sense".
Here's another, to properly get the egg batter to adhere, you should dry off the chicken or roll it around in some flour. Meaning, a wet chicken won't allow the egg batter to adhere enough before you're last coating of seasoned shake. There's a specific reason to drying the chicken before the egg step, it's not just "dry it off because it's less wet", it's "a dry chicken will adhere to the egg batter".
Also the external bacteria is the easiest bacteria to kill. It'll be dead in seconds. The internal bacteria is the one you should be worried about, which won't be affected by a washing.
Like I said if you want to eat your chicken with that old blood and juice on it more power to you. It does serve a purpose if you want to put that in your mouth go ahead. It should be common sense but I can see that it's not lol.
Because you should rinse off some of that old bacteria and blood and juice it has had on it since it's bin sitting in package. You can't wash it all off true but you can get alot off by rinsing it.
I get that, but if you aren't getting it all off, why it is a need then? Heck, you're about to cook the chicken, which will kill all external and internal bacteria. Therefore, washing isn't a need then.
Plus, if you're worried about the "toxic" juice the meat is sitting in prior to cooking, maybe you shouldn't be eating the meat.
For the same reason I don't baste my chicken with the blood from the package.
Yes, but that's not what we're talking about (using the juice for a purpose). Is the juice so awful that common sense would demand you wash it off?
I brine my chicken (Salt+BrownSugar+Thyme). During that long soak, the cells absorb the brine bringing salt, sugar and thyme flavoring into the meat. Meaning, the chicken is taking in the "old juice" too. Therefore, washing serves no common sense purpose. You can if you want, but it's not preventing "old juice" or bacteria from entering your mouth.
Honestly, I rinse the package juice off because it tends to be a bit slimy like, and it interferes with the seasonings I rub on the chicken.
Like I said if you want to eat your chicken with that old blood and juice on it more power to you. It does serve a purpose if you want to put that in your mouth go ahead.
So it's really not about your health or safety.
Quote:
It should be common sense but I can see that it's not lol.
So if your "feelings" are that it makes you feel better about eating the chicken, that equals common sense.
Not just health or safety but cleaner is better and you don't want to eat that old nasty blood or juice it's been sitting in since they put it in package since you bought it if you don't have to do you? Remember safer is better always.
That same blood is in the chicken itself. Unless you're suggesting they'r placing blood from an older chicken into the package your chicken was in, all of the blood contained within that chicken is the same age as the blood on the outside of that chicken. Like I said, it's really all about perception.
And actually, when the chicken is cooked, the blood and juices on the outside of the chicken will reach a high temperature first. All of that bacteria will most certainly be killed in the cooking process. The only actual real danger is that the cooking temperature won't be reached on the inside of the chicken.
So if it's the germs and bacteria that concern you, you're worrying about the wrong part of the chicken.
Washing raw chicken before cooking it can increase your risk of food poisoning from campylobacter bacteria.
Splashing water from washing chicken under a tap can spread the bacteria onto hands, work surfaces, clothing, and cooking equipment.
Water droplets can travel more than 50cm in every direction. Only a few campylobacter cells are needed to cause food poisoning.
Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK.
Most cases of campylobacter infection come from poultry. About 50% of the chicken sold in the UK carries the bacteria.
Campylobacter poisoning can cause tummy pain, severe diarrhoea, and sometimes vomiting for between two and five days.
Find out more about the symptoms of food poisoning.
In certain cases, however, it can also lead to irritable bowel syndrome, reactive arthritis and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
How to prevent campylobacter poisoning 1. Cover and chill raw chicken Cover raw chicken and store it at the bottom of the fridge so juices can't drip onto other foods and contaminate them.
2. Don't wash raw chicken Cooking will kill any bacteria present, including campylobacter, while washing chicken can spread germs by splashing.
3. Wash used utensils Thoroughly wash and clean all utensils, chopping boards and surfaces used to prepare raw chicken. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water after handling raw chicken. This helps stop the spread of campylobacter.
4. Cook chicken thoroughly Make sure chicken is steaming hot all the way through before serving. Cut into the thickest part of the meat to check that it's steaming hot with no pink meat and the juices run clear.
“Can I get a half pound of the botulism burgers.” “Give me a side of the salmonella sausage.”
Guess what they do with the cow tripe if it falls on the ground. (cow stomach)
Let's try a multiple choice question:
A) They sadly throw the hopelessly contaminated meat out, 2) They put it back on the table and hopefully and happily sell it, 3) They put it back on the table and hopefully and happily sell it, D) They put it back on the table and hopefully and happily sell it, E) none of the above.
It’s not hard to quarantine raw meat within your own kitchen. I wear gloves when I’m prepping the meat and I’m aware to not cross contaminate any handle or surface. 
