Don't wash chicken before cooking

21merc7

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http://www.nbcnews.com/business/stop-washing-your-chicken-8C11067715

The water molecules carrying salmonella or campylobacter bacteria, two of the leading causes of food-borne illness, aren't visible to the naked eye. Even a trickle of water can give the pathogens a means of locomotion through a process known as "aerosolization."

Much more at link above. There are 2 videos included, one to animate why not to wash chicken, and another Julia Child video - the one where she explains which kind of chicken is which. I loved that episode (along with the one where she was showing an eel, in the '50's I doubt anyone was buying eel, lol.)

I have always washed the chicken. I was taught to. Even brined a few, wondering if it was making issues worse. It was. I will just season, wash hands, utensils, sink and area, and cook from now on. To be honest, I always wondered if I was just adding more germs by washing the chicken in City water. :blushing:
 
OMG! Soap! :floorlaugh: Nope, not going there either.

I'll just listen to those that do the research. Never would I add more chemicals, like soap. Wow! Fascinating!
 
The heat from cooking will kill most all of the germs, washing won't. I personally do not worry about salmonella much.

I sometimes feed raw chicken to my dogs, I know folks that feed their dogs raw chicken every day. House dogs and raw chicken means salmonella will be on various surfaces including our dogs at times yet we don't get sick from it because we have been exposed. Small kids and weak elderly folks are more of a concern though.

I am more careful about washing raw fruits especially those coming from foreign countries where hepatitis and other nasties are common. I wash them in anti-bacterial dish soap, if a farm hand is pooping in the vegetable fields I don't want to catch whatever he has. BTW also wash your melons, the melon inside may be clean but when you cut it in half all of the germs on the SKIN get transferred to the inner melon with the knife.
 
The heat from cooking will kill most all of the germs, washing won't. I personally do not worry about salmonella much.

I sometimes feed raw chicken to my dogs, I know folks that feed their dogs raw chicken every day. House dogs and raw chicken means salmonella will be on various surfaces including our dogs at times yet we don't get sick from it because we have been exposed. Small kids and weak elderly folks are more of a concern though.

I am more careful about washing raw fruits especially those coming from foreign countries where hepatitis and other nasties are common. I wash them in anti-bacterial dish soap, if a farm hand is pooping in the vegetable fields I don't want to catch whatever he has. BTW also wash your melons, the melon inside may be clean but when you cut it in half all of the germs on the SKIN get transferred to the inner melon with the knife.

Thank you for the sensible post. I've been cooking chicken for over fifty (50) years and never killed anyone. The HEAT kills the germs/whatever. Unless you eat raw chicken or transfer whatever is on raw chicken to raw veggies/whatever, I see no problem. Sure, wash your hands. Hand washing is good, do it after your wipe your butt also. The world is changing, but common sense is still alive and well. . .I think.
 
There's a hilarious "chicken washing" scene in this episode of I Love Lucy.

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4156794649?ref_=tt_pv_vi_1

Oh I had forgotten this episode. I love it, love them all. 4 lbs of rice! :floorlaugh:

As far as chicken washing, :laughcry:!

And please, everyone, do not scrub your chickens with a brush. There is not enough bleach in the world to make those scrub brushes safe again.

From a germaphobe, that has been ill from chicken food poisoning via neighbors and a not scrubbed grill, and does not wish salmonella, or any other germies, on anyone.

Just season and cook, just like you do beef or pork. Chicken is not field grown beans.

Still laughing, thank you so much. Did you see Julia manhandle those chickens like footballs? Maybe it tenderizes them!

ETA: Look at this Julia Child episode:

Julia Child The French Chef- Bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise - YouTube
 
I have always washed the chicken. I was taught to. Even brined a few, wondering if it was making issues worse. It was. I will just season, wash hands, utensils, sink and area, and cook from now on. To be honest, I always wondered if I was just adding more germs by washing the chicken in City water. :blushing:

You've managed to do 100's if not 1000's of times w/o getting food poisoning so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Brining chicken is the BEST! (in terms of deliciousness)
 
I rinse my chicken with water before roasting it. It usually cooks for 2 hours. I feed it to my dogs and they have not gotten sick.
 
I rinse and then pat dry with paper towels. Drying off the skin before roasting helps it crisp up. I rinse it just to get rid of the slimy layer of liquid it's usually been sitting in in the packaging.

I don't know, I tend not to pay much attention to "10 things in your kitchen that could KILL YOU" panic-journalism on the local news. If human beings were that fragile there wouldn't be so darn many of us.
 
The only reason I posted is this is because people that post here, and that I have known, have gotten salmonella or worse from just purchasing leaky chicken and still washing their hands.

I realize most are fine.

I also realize that some are not washing hands, and whatever the chicken juices touch.

So, new studies say don't wash it, you are spreading. Personally, I bleach down everything after having raw chicken around. Been there done that. Not taking the chance on the high temps, and what feels like glass churning in my stomach for a few days and nothing to do but wait it out.

Seriously, it happens. Americans may no longer be clean, but people are trying to tell them to clean up after bringing chicken home even.

Maybe some that have posted here before can tell you what happened to them. Even with being clean. I hope so.

I have just always taken precautions, and don't buy a lot of chicken anymore anyway because of it. I don't buy fresh spinach anymore either, for years, because I cannot wash off the stuff if I want spinach salad. Nope, no spinach salad for me.

Trust in today's food advice is what I must do. What was and what is, 2 different things via food handling, storage (cool enough not so much), shipping, and to you. ;)
 
I also realize that some are not washing hands, and whatever the chicken juices touch.

So, new studies say don't wash it, you are spreading. Personally, I bleach down everything after having raw chicken around. Been there done that. Not taking the chance on the high temps, and what feels like glass churning in my stomach for a few days and nothing to do but wait it out.

Seriously, it happens. Americans may no longer be clean, but people are trying to tell them to clean up after bringing chicken home even.

But there is also being "too clean". As I said, being exposed to salmonella regularly can make people virtually immune. That is why travelers to third world countries can get sick from the water, their bodies are NOT accustomed to the salmonella, e-coli, guardia etc....that the locals are exposed to every day without illness.

Same thing with dogs, I was used to quarantining the house with bleach if puppies under 12 weeks were present (rescue puppies). When I had a stray show up and give birth 2 days later I asked the vet "do i need to quarantine??" and he said no, the mother likely had immunity to just about everything out there, she was NOT raised in an ultra clean environment so her exposure to pathogens would protect the puppies while they were nursing and until they were old enough for shots.

Same thing with polio. Did you know before "sanitized" water supplies virtually no one suffered from polio? Fact is virtually EVERYONE was exposed to it from birth (the mothers carried anti-bodies and the babies were exposed as infants) and at a young age there are no adverse reactions....but if you are NOT exposed at a young age and come in contact with it as an older child or adult it will mess you up bad and possibly kill you.

Polio was always around but was never a problem until sanitized water created generations with NO prior exposure or immunity!

Having said that I am a germaphobe regarding colds and flu and make sure to use hand sanitizer and those wipes at the grocery store (that probably don't do much) when dealing with "other people's" weird pathogens. LOL. Just remember it is the drying effect of the alcohol that kills the germs, spray and leave don't spray and wipe dry!
 
Thank you so much Sonya. :blowkiss:

Trust me, I am not too clean.

Just believe me.

I don't use the alcohol things, bad allergies - nasal and skin, so I can use very few products. In fact, I can't use "Scrubbie Bubbles" anymore b/c it is scented! Can't use wipes, something in them. I did find a baby brand for the phone at work when one of the bosses uses mine. Erm, let's just say, I know where they have been and need to use it on the phone, then I get a wet paper towel and wipe that off.

Chicken has given me problems before.

I don't mind you feeding your dogs raw chicken. That is between you and your dogs. I know some breeds need a lot more protein than what is in dog food. Mine ate whatever I ate, so, she got some sushi in there. Although I have to avoid that now too. Aging sucks!!!
 
Thank you so much Sonya. :blowkiss:
I don't use the alcohol things, bad allergies - nasal and skin, so I can use very few products. In fact, I can't use "Scrubbie Bubbles" anymore b/c it is scented! Can't use wipes, something in them. I did find a baby brand for the phone at work when one of the bosses uses mine. Erm, let's just say, I know where they have been and need to use it on the phone, then I get a wet paper towel and wipe that off.

Don't wipe the phone with a wet towel. Bacteria and Virii breed best on moist surfaces. That is why alcohol works well, it dries them out and kills them quick.

You can also try this, very effective at killing germs and non-toxic (if you can handle the smell of vinegar) but do NOT mix both in the same bottle. I learned about this as a safe way of cleaning small animal cages.

http://www.rootsimple.com/2012/02/h...toxic-way-with-hydrogen-peroxide-and-vinegar/

And yeah dogs LOVE raw chicken (raw! no cooked bones!) and they thrive on it. It is a lot more work than kibble though, so mine don't get it regularly.
 
I didn't see an article to read, but the video only mentions droplets of the chicken rinse getting on other things. So, maybe it depends on how much water pressure is used and how well the sink is cleaned afterwards. I'm going to keep lightly rinsing meat and poultry because it rinses off some extra histamine that is on the outside. Histamine seems to bother me and meat may be higher in it the less fresh it is.
 
I didn't see an article to read, but the video only mentions droplets of the chicken rinse getting on other things. So, maybe it depends on how much water pressure is used and how well the sink is cleaned afterwards. I'm going to keep lightly rinsing meat and poultry because it rinses off some extra histamine that is on the outside. Histamine seems to bother me and meat may be higher in it the less fresh it is.


The article should be before either video, I haven't checked today.

When looking up histamine, I did read that leftover chicken is extremely high, more so than other meats. So if you bake a whole chicken and can't eat it in one day, the histamine levels keep rising each day it is sitting in the fridge. I thought that was interesting.
 
Dozens of chicken plants have also been enrolled in a similar pilot program. The USDA plans to finalize regulations this year, allowing the procedures to be used in all chicken and turkey plants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f8bb94-0f58-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html

“We are no longer in charge of safety,” said an inspector with more than 15 years of experience. “That’s what the public needs to know.”
 
Dozens of chicken plants have also been enrolled in a similar pilot program. The USDA plans to finalize regulations this year, allowing the procedures to be used in all chicken and turkey plants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f8bb94-0f58-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html

“We are no longer in charge of safety,” said an inspector with more than 15 years of experience. “That’s what the public needs to know.”

Long article, but worth the read. The enormous amounts of red meats not be handled properly and e.coli issues is greatly disturbing! (And what is the "spray" mentioned to be put on the carcass? I have to rethink eating any meat now.)
 
So...are people using a power washer to rinse off their chicken, or what?!!??
I use a very "mellow" stream of water to rinse mine off...I can't even imagine particles of anything flying off the chicken to contaminate nearby clean plates, dishes, silverware, etc.

The thought of what might be going behind the scenes while my chicken is being processed by the butcher is enough to make me take the chance to rinse my chicken off. Yeah, I know they wear gear to keep things clean...but I'm not taking any chances. I've also seen workers wear that gear in a haphazard fashion, not even covering what it's supposed to cover (mouth, nose, hands, hair, etc.). (I am, however, a self-professed germaphobe).

Blech. Makes me consider vegetarianism.
 
You've managed to do 100's if not 1000's of times w/o getting food poisoning so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Brining chicken is the BEST! (in terms of deliciousness)

Totally agree. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. If chicken hasn't killed you by now, why worry? Ever drink water from a hose?
 

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