cEveryone has their own cooking techniques, however, there are certain rules that everyone must follow, and according to experts, not washing chicken is one of them. Experts say doing so is not at all a necessary step.
Self-life-life magazine has asked many experts whether it is necessary to wash chicken or not, and the answer in general is no. It’s a common habit, according to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Food Protection1, which found that 70% of people practice it.
People’s first instinct may be to wash the chicken to remove all “the sticky substance that is there,” explains Keith Schneider, professor of microbiology and food safety at the University of Florida in the USA. Cooking chicken thoroughly is completely aesthetic and useless.
We all know that chicken cannot be eaten raw and therefore, when you buy it, it is ready to cook and it is essential that you do it correctly, at the ideal temperature, in order to “kill” all the bacteria that would normally be found in this meat.
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All poultry meat is safe to consume when its temperature reaches at least 70 degrees Celsius indoors, explains ASAE – Food and Economic Security Authority. It is important to pay attention to this and it is not enough to analyze the color and texture of the chicken to find out if it is ready, it is necessary to use a food thermometer – to get the correct reading, it should be placed on the thickest part of the breast, thigh or whole leg of the bird without touching the bone.
Not washing the chicken is not a problem, but doing so can have some consequences for your health. Raw chicken can be contaminated with bacteria that can cause foodborne illnesses, the most famous of which is salmonella, and when washed, when water hits the chicken, it can jump out and splash. This can cause bacteria to spread in the kitchen, counters or even other foods.
In addition, those who have this habit are more likely to develop food poisoning, which can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, cramps, and vomiting, especially in pregnant women or people who are immunocompromised.
Only people who live on a farm, for example, can wash chickens, and they have to do it only in a place far from where they prepare food, but chickens bought in stores or supermarkets have already been washed and ready for cooking.
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