Is it important to wash chicken before cooking?
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
The USDA recommends against washing chicken because doing so can spread pathogens on the surface in and around the sink, which then has to be sanitized. I have never washed chicken.
Silversage
Head Chef
NO! You should never wash chicken. It can spread more bacteria than just handling it. Cooking properly will kill anything that needs killin'.
Of course, don't lick the sink, faucet or taps and especially don't lick your fingers, knives or bread board.... and you should be just fine.
gerardj
Senior Cook
restaurants don't.
HeyItsSara
Sous Chef
I wash mushrooms and that's about it.
jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
Lord almighty. NEVER wash chicken or any meat.
Washing chickens probably came into play when people were plucking their own. After singeing it was possible to sluice off the left over bits of burnt feathers and loose fuzzies left. But in them thar days running water was probably a pump at the sink or in the back yard. More likely the bird got dumped up and down in a bucket.
Other than that, I have no idea why anyone would ever even want to in the first place! I know there were times mom used to rub down a bird with lemon juice, but certainly not always.
Other than that, I have no idea why anyone would ever even want to in the first place! I know there were times mom used to rub down a bird with lemon juice, but certainly not always.
rodentraiser
Head Chef
I think with all the crap they put on chicken these days, like ammonia and other stuff, I'd wash my chicken. I mean, you can do it carefully by just pouring a glass of water over it and I always clean in and around my sinks anyway every time I do dishes, so that's not so hard to do after washing a chicken. But that's just me.
gerardj
Senior Cook
i think, don't know for certain, they spray it with a weak bleach solution to kill bacteria, its illegal to import into the uk for that reason.
The current science says it's cleaner not to wash chicken or other meat that you have bought from the store. It is, however, an culturally loaded question.
We didn't wash the snowshoe hare that we ate a lot when I lived in the country. But, if the intestines got unintentionally cut or damaged while cleaning a hare, the contaminated area got rinsed a whole lot.
We didn't wash the snowshoe hare that we ate a lot when I lived in the country. But, if the intestines got unintentionally cut or damaged while cleaning a hare, the contaminated area got rinsed a whole lot.
Linda0818
Head Chef
I can't say I've never washed chicken because my mom always said to do that. So in my late teens/early 20's while living at home with mom, I would literally wash whole chickens in the sink, taking care to rinse out the main cavity, as well as down inside the neck.
But since moving out and living on my own (meaning without mom) I stopped doing that and haven't washed a chicken - or chicken parts - since.
But since moving out and living on my own (meaning without mom) I stopped doing that and haven't washed a chicken - or chicken parts - since.
I grew up in the 1950s and 60s. I think most people washed meat before using it. I know my mum did and I did it too. I quit washing meat when a friend said that she didn't do it because, it made the meat go slimy. I had never heard of that, but eventually figured out that she must have been washing the meat before storing it in her fridge, while I washed it before use. But, it made me think. If she wasn't getting sick from not washing the meat, then why should I bother? If there were any pathogens on the meat, cooking would kill them. It's only in this millennium that I learned that science deems it a bad idea to wash meat, not just an unnecessary thing to do.
Yes, forgot about the cavity part of whole chickens. Rinsing removed a lot of blood that pooled there not to mention bits and pieces of other organs that invariably rinsed out as well.
Oh yeah, rinsing away the ooky bits. I remember that, now.
Linda0818
Head Chef
Yep, that was my mom's reasoning for doing that. So in those days, I just thought it was the normal thing to do. But now I just take a whole chicken out of its packaging, remove anything that may be included with the bird, salt the cavity and start the prepping process for... well, however I plan to cook it.
I'm just remembering the way chickens looked when you got them home from the grocery store. They did not look as tidied up as the ones we get now. I haven't had to pull bits of feather out of chicken skin in donkeys' years. I haven't had to singe a chicken either. There were usually also more interesting, usable bits in the cavity.
Linda0818
Head Chef
So true! I recall removing many of the internal parts of the chicken, such as the heart, kidneys, liver (my personal favorite) and even the neck, as well as other bits I couldn't really identify. These days, however, most chicken packaging states that no giblets are included, which is disappointing.
gerardj
Senior Cook
its the crap they feed them, offal, heads, feet etc are all ground up and mixed in the feed, poultry lacks the ability to metabolize it.
I remember when it was safe to store eggs unrefrigerated, today the salmonella is already in the egg when its laid.
gerardj
Senior Cook
they interview people who get salmonella poisoning and handling raw turkey is a big one, the more its handled the higher the risk, washing it does nothing but increase risk.
