'Don't Wash Your Chicken!'

[madinmaryland]

WASHINGTON - Plenty of recipes from well-known chefs, including Julia Child herself, call for a chicken to be washed and patted dry before preparation.

But a new public health campaign is warning against this method.

Drexel University and New Mexico State University's "Don't Wash Your Chicken!" campaign says rinsing raw poultry before it's cooked is unsafe.

Dr. Jennifer Quinlan, an associate professor at Drexel University who helped develop the campaign, says when poultry is rinsed, it's more likely for bacteria to splatter and contaminate kitchen surfaces, as well as other foods near the sink.

Just rinsing raw poultry with water is not enough to kill the bacteria in the first place, according to the campaign.

The effort stems out of research funded by the United States Department of Agriculture to help identify and limit food safety risks among minority populations. Its materials, which include mini-dramas and photonovellas, tell the public that the cooking process will kill any bacteria that is present.

Read more:

http://www.wtop.com/267/3436508/Experts-Dont-wash-your-chicken

So it's not ok to wash the chicken, but it's ok to choke the chicken!!

[hollysmom]

1. I fill a big pot full of water and douse the chicken in that and then spill and refill the water,

a relative puts in a couple of drops of bleach to clean hers.
I don't want to cook a dirty chicken with things inside it.

[BlueJazz]

14. Yep..same here. I don't mind eating some dead nasties but not what's all over an unwash chicken.

I mean, They DO call them Fowl.

[NJCher]

18. urm

Bleach is a carcinogen.


Cher

[LiberalEsto]

2. I just stopped eating chicken a few years ago

Last edited Sat Aug 31, 2013, 09:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Solves that problem.

[In_The_Wind]

3. Yes

[madinmaryland]

4. It's chicken fer christ sakes!!

[In_The_Wind]

6. But, you need to keep your chicken clean before you dip it.

[Xipe Totec]

5. It it wrong to serve monkey?

With rosé?

[Squinch]

7. I like it with a nice Montepulicano. But that's me.

[Xipe Totec]

8. I prefer it with a quaff of Arrogant Bastard Ale

[Squinch]

9. Monkeys and quaffs are always nice.

[Xipe Totec]

10. Golden Monkey Belgian Style Tripel would have been the obvious choice

Which is why I rejected it outright.

[Squinch]

11. .

You are a paragon of culture. And monkey cuisine.

[madinmaryland]

12. Just as long as you don't spank it in public, everything will be fine!!

[Xipe Totec]

13. I like my monkey shaken, not spanked. nt

[flying_wahini]

15. You could rinse with some vinegar or lemon juice added to a cold pot of water

the acid in vinegar and/or lemon will help sanitize it...... without changing the flavor.

[femmocrat]

16. I will still wash it, just not splatter it!

I was all meat first. Don't like that bloody liquid that it is sitting in. Plus, how do you know it was processed in a sanitary manner? Maybe it fell on the floor or something!

[Jenoch]

17. This is old news.

I remember reading something at least five years ago that said to not rinse chicken all it really does is spread bacteria (if there is any) around your kitchen. Any cooking method done correctly will kill any bacteria.

[Denninmi]

19. I soak it out.

Water with a little salt (I use KCl due to a low sodium diet) and vinegar, plus ice cubes. Let it soak about an hour, the water becomes nasty looking, then drain, wash, and rinse really well.

As for spreading germs - only common sense that anything germy will spread them, just keep the area open, clean, and use safe handling and sanitation techniques.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. Best method is to throw it in the pot after you strip the feathers using melted

parafin.

[Liberal Veteran]

21. Is it okay if I continue to use a hazmat suit and a "clean room" for preparing chicken?

[jmowreader]

22. You don't use a glove box?

I sometimes wonder what our foremothers did before we found out raw chickens were the Komodo Dragons of the food world.

[Locut0s]

23. Got sick less often than the modern world fears about probably...

There's certainly something to be said for good hygienic food practices but sometimes I think this world is becoming paranoid. I lived in Asia in the mid 80s when the whole concept of "food safe" and even food inspection was alien and I never got sick once. We even ate street food at "dirty" little hawker stalls all the time.

[Locut0s]

24. I lived in Asia in the mid 80s...

As I just posted about right above. China and Malaysia to be exact. The concept of "food safe" practices and worrying about spreading germs, as well as food inspections was totally alien then. We ate street food all the time in "dirty" hawker stalls along the street next to ditches and sewers all the time. We hardly ever got truely sick. It's true my father got VERY VERY sick when he went back to China in the 90s but that was from what we thought was a comparatively clean restaurant. The whole point I'm making really is that yes there is something important to be said for good hygiene practices, especially in big restaurants. But we are also becoming a germ paranoid world too. There's some evidence that frequent contact with germs keeps the immune system healthy. This isn't to say that kids shouldn't be vaccinated, that whole movement is insane in my mind, but I do think we shouldn't worry about insanely scrubbing the floors till they shine all the time and worrying about every little spec of dust like some people do. Not saying the OP is like that at all, just saying

[B Calm]

25. I'd be more worried about what they are feeding the factory raised chicken.

[Graybeard]

26. I will continue to wash.

My procedure has always been to wash the chicken in an empty sink and of course I'm careful about spattering stuff around. Then I wipe down the sink and all of the counter surfaces with bleach.
Wash my hands and get to cookin'!