This Is The Reason Why You Should Never Wash Raw Chicken Before Cooking It – Here’s Why (And Do This Instead)

Chicken is consumed by million people all over the world, and many of those people before cooking it, they wash it. They do that in order to eliminate the bacteria that raw chicken has, because the bacteria that raw chicken contains can be harmful to humans.

According to the Food Standards Agency, washing your chicken can increased the spread of these harmful bacteria rather than the disinfection of them.

Here is a breakdown of why washing raw chicken can be harmful to your health and how you can still enjoy chicken while avoiding all of those nasty bacteria.

Why you shouldn’t Wash Raw Chicken

Raw chicken contains harmful bacteria that can cause people to become seriously ill or even worse. The most common causes of food poisoning in North America come from campylobacter and salmonella, two different types of bacteria that can be found in uncooked chicken.

Campylobacter is the leading cause of diarrheal illness in the United States. This illness can last for up to 10 days and causes severe stomachache. Moreover, the exposure to campylobacter can also be the reason for the occurrence of other long- term effects, like arthritis and Guillan-Barre syndrome. This syndrome causes muscle weakness and affects the nervous system, and roughly 40{a8918b4b0e6da5877a953b5121cd96b60dc6eb4c5c794e71f46c34777f2c3294} of Guillan-Barre syndrome cases in the United States are attributed to exposure to campylobacter.

Salmonella is a group of bacteria that most often lives in the birds’ intestines. People who eat food contaminated with salmonella develop symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting. Most people who become sick from salmonella exposure recover after a few days, however some people develop more serious illnesses and sometimes die due to them. An example of one of these illnesses is septicaemia, otherwise known as blood poisoning.

According to the Food Standards Agency, campylobacter cannot be eliminated with water, so that means washing uncooked chicken that contains campylobacter will not be eliminated but it will be even worse then, because that way the bacteria will spread through water particles. This means that if you wash an infected piece of chicken, you not only have to worry about the area that your chicken comes in contact with but also the area that the water you used comes in contact with. This can lead to your kitchen becoming a minefield of harmful bacteria.

How to Avoid Food Poisoning:

Cover and chill raw chicken

Cover raw chicken and store it at the bottom of the fridge so juices cannot drip on to other foods and contaminate them with food poisoning bacteria such as campylobacter.

Don’t wash raw chicken

Cooking will kill any bacteria present, including campylobacter, while washing chicken can spread germs by splashing.

Wash used utensils;

You need to wash and clean all kitchen utensils thoroughly, chopping boards and surfaces that you use when preparing raw chicken. Wash your hands thoroughly using soap and warm water as this also prevents the spread of campylobacter

Cook chicken thoroughly

According to the Food Standards Agency, the best way to ensure that all of the harmful bacteria in your chicken is killed off is to cook it as thoroughly as possible.

Make sure the chicken is steaming hot all the way through before you serve it. Cut in to the thickest part of the meat and check that it is steaming hot with no pink meat and make sure that all of the juices run clear.

Never store your chicken at a higher temperature than 4 degrees Celsius since chicken in a higher temperature can allow the chicken to become a breeding ground for bacteria.

Source: familylifegoals