Food safety experts want us to stop rinsing our chickens
Somewhere there’s a vegan flipping through Eating Animals and peacefully enjoying a veggie burger.
Just days after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned the country about pathogen-laden sausages and deli meats, the Toronto Star steps up to tell us that washing raw chicken—that first step in pretty much any chicken recipe—is a great way to increase one’s chances of contracting food poisoning. The reason, explains the British Food Standards Agency, is that more than half of raw chicken contains bacteria that cause food poisoning and washing the meat just spreads the bacteria around the kitchen. The best way to combat the bacteria is to cook it to death, so better to put that chicken sashimi on the backburner. Literally.
• Stop washing raw chicken, food agency advises [Toronto Star]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/food-safety-experts-want-us-to-stop-rinsing-our-chickens/&title=Food safety experts want us to stop rinsing our chickens&picture=https://cdn.torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/RawChicken.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_34934" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="No bathing: rinsing raw chicken can do more harm than good (Image: snowpea&bokchoi)"][/caption]
Somewhere there’s a vegan flipping through Eating Animals and peacefully enjoying a veggie burger.
Just days after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned the country about pathogen-laden sausages and deli meats, the Toronto Star steps up to tell us that washing raw chicken—that first step in pretty much any chicken recipe—is a great way to increase one's chances of contracting food poisoning. The reason, explains the British Food Standards Agency, is that more than half of raw chicken contains bacteria that cause food poisoning and washing the meat just spreads the bacteria around the kitchen. The best way to combat the bacteria is to cook it to death, so better to put that chicken sashimi on the backburner. Literally.
• Stop washing raw chicken, food agency advises [Toronto Star]){kind=link}