Raw poultry must be handled with care

Raw poultry must be handled with care


The debate among home cooks over whether raw poultry needs a quick rinse before cooking may well rage until the end of time.

But the controversy matters not, as it seems many of us aren’t taking enough care to prevent raw meat from contaminating our kitchens in the first place.

For what it’s worth, the scientific consensus is that raw poultry should not be washed. The risk of splashing contaminated water around your kitchen and onto other foods is too great.

A study by North Carolina State University researchers aimed at gauging poultry-washing habits and the effectiveness of education efforts to halt the practice drew 300 home cooks who said they usually rinse poultry before cooking.

The researchers separated the group roughly in half — one group was sent information by email about the dangers of rinsing poultry; the other group did not receive an email.

The cooks were asked to prepare a meal of chicken thighs and a salad. The cooks didn’t know that the scientists incoculated the chicken with a harmless strain of E coli bacteria, so that the researchers could later swab the kitchen surfaces to track cross-contamination.

Among the chicken rinsers, 26% of those who received the email instructing them not to contaminated the salad, as did 30% of those who did not get an email.

For those who didn’t rinse their chicken, 31% of those who received the email contaminated the lettuce as did 15% of those who didn’t get the email.

Most likely, the study said, the cooks didn’t wash their hands after touching the raw chicken or didn’t sanitize the sink area well enough before handling the salad.

Bottom line: Stop worrying about washing poultry and instead, worry about washing your hands.

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