CDC Sends Important Warning About Raw Chicken, Chaos Ensues On The Internet
The CDC is making cooking chicken sound very dangerous. They issued a warning about how people should prepare their chicken.
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If you're planning on having a summer barbecue, this is important information. In a tweet, the CDC said that something a lot of people were taught by their mothers is actually dangerous.
They just put out an alert telling people to not wash their raw chicken. It's very common for people to rinse chicken before cooking it.
They wrote, "Don’t wash your raw chicken! Washing can spread germs from the chicken to other food or utensils in the kitchen."
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Their fear is the juices from chicken can spread in the kitchen and contaminate other foods, utensils, and countertops with germs. Chicken carries bacteria like salmonella, campylobacter, and clostridium perfringens.
Instead, they had the following tips:
Place chicken in a disposable bag before putting in your shopping cart or refrigerator to prevent raw juices from getting onto other foods. Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling chicken.
Use a separate cutting board for raw chicken. Never place cooked food or fresh produce on a plate, cutting board, or other surfaces that previously held raw chicken. Wash cutting boards, utensils, dishes, and countertops with hot soapy water after preparing chicken and before you prepare the next item. Use a good thermometer to make sure chicken is cooked to a safe internal temperature of 165 degrees. If cooking frozen raw chicken in a microwavable meal, handle it as you would fresh raw chicken. Follow cooking directions carefully to prevent food poisoning. If you think the chicken you are served at a restaurant or anywhere else is not fully cooked, send it back for more cooking. Refrigerate or freeze leftover chicken within two hours (or within one hour if the temperature outside is higher than 90 degrees).
Their tweet sent the Internet into a frenzy. People who don't rinse their chicken were surprised that anyone would do such a thing, but people who did wash their chicken were outraged over the idea of not washing it.
The CDC responded later writing, "We didn’t mean to get you all hot about not washing your chicken! But it’s true: kill germs by cooking chicken thoroughly, not washing it. You shouldn’t wash any poultry, meat, or eggs before cooking. They can all spread germs around your kitchen. Don’t wing food safety!"
Do you wash your chicken? Let us know in the comments what you'll be doing with this advice.
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