{"id":161201,"date":"2024-03-27T22:02:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T22:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=161201"},"modified":"2024-12-10T17:16:56","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T23:16:56","slug":"should-you-wash-chicken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/should-you-wash-chicken\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Wash Chicken Before Cooking It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In July 2014, The Guardian<\/em> published Food poisoning scandal: how chicken spreads campylobacter<\/em><\/a>, an investigation about bad practices in slaughterhouses, that put the UK government in check, forcing it to improve health measures and launch a campaign with a question: should you wash chicken before cooking it?<\/strong> (Maybe you’re doing wrong).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report in The Guardian<\/em> said campylobacter<\/strong> caused 280,000 British to suffer stomach infections every year with vomiting and diarrhea, which in 80% of cases<\/strong> were linked to chicken<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the newspaper mentioned that 65% of the chicken sold in the United Kingdom<\/strong> was contaminated with campylobacter<\/strong>, according to data taken from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned to this investigation because during the month of March, in Mexico<\/strong>, specifically in the state of Tlaxcala<\/strong>, there have been 3 deaths<\/strong> due to Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome<\/a>, which according to local authorities would be linked to chicken <\/strong>contaminated with campylobacter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\r\n \r\n \"\"\r\n <\/picture>
Image of the campaign promoted by the British government in 2014. (Photo: FSA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Don’t Wash Raw Chicken?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Food safety authorities around the world recommend that we don’t wash raw chicken<\/strong> before cooking because this doesn’t remove bacteria and far from cleaning it, we can splash dangerous germs<\/strong> around the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In relation to the cases of Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome in Mexico<\/strong>, Dr. Alejandro Mac\u00edas, an infectious disease expert, shared a video<\/a> in which he points out that it isn’t dangerous to eat chicken<\/strong> as long as the hygiene measures<\/strong> indicated are followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s not that campylobacter<\/strong> comes within the muscles of the chicken”, said Mac\u00edas: “It’s found in its intestine, but when it\u2019s processed for transportation and sale, this contamination spreads<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expert also explains that many studies show a prevalence of more than 50 <\/strong>and up to 70%<\/strong> of campylobacter <\/strong>in the chicken <\/strong>that is sold. So, we must know that if we eat it we have take hygiene measures to avoid cross contamination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, although campylobacter<\/strong> is the bacteria most linked with chicken<\/strong>, the paper Prevalence of Pathogens in Poultry Meat: A Meta-Analysis of European Published Surveys<\/em><\/a>, published in 2018, reminds us that it can also have Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes <\/strong>and Staphylococcus aureus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before promising that you will never eat chicken again, you have to know that these types of pathogens<\/strong> die at high temperatures<\/strong>, so by cooking it you lose the risk of getting sick (as long as you follow the correct hygiene measures).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Should You Prepare Food To Avoid Cross Contamination?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The risk of cross contamination<\/strong> \u201cis significantly decreased if foods that are eaten raw, such as lettuce and other vegetables, are washed and prepared first,\u201d recommends the United States Department of Agriculture<\/a> (USDA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USDA mentions a study in which: \u201cOf the participants who washed their raw poultry<\/strong>, 60% had bacteria<\/strong> in their sink after washing or rinsing the poultry. Even more concerning is that 14%<\/strong> still had bacteria in their sinks after they attempted to clean the sink\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the recommendation is that the chicken isn’t washed<\/strong> because we aren’t removing bacteria and in fact, we could contaminate our kitchen and other foods. The only thing that kills these pathogens are the high temperatures<\/strong>, so make sure the chicken is cooked well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it’s important that after cutting or handling any type of meat, including chicken, you wash your hands<\/strong> thoroughly and immediately disinfect<\/strong> your kitchen surfaces and utensils such as cutting boards and knives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your attempt to remove the bacteria could be contaminating your kitchen and the rest of your food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":161208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[224,138],"class_list":["post-161201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-health","tag-school-of-medicine-and-health-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShould you wash chicken before cooking it? | TecScience<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your attempt to remove the bacteria could be contaminating your kitchen and the rest of your food.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/should-you-wash-chicken\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should You Wash Chicken Before Cooking It?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your attempt to remove the bacteria could be contaminating your kitchen and the rest of your food.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/should-you-wash-chicken\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TecScience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-27T22:02:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-10T23:16:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/03\/should-you-wash-chicken.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Herrera\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Herrera\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/health\\\/should-you-wash-chicken\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/health\\\/should-you-wash-chicken\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Herrera\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2fd83e81b0f2efe51ac5d62f507b430\"},\"headline\":\"Should You Wash Chicken Before Cooking It?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-27T22:02:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-10T23:16:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/health\\\/should-you-wash-chicken\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/health\\\/should-you-wash-chicken\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/should-you-wash-chicken.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Health\",\"School of Medicine and Health Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/health\\\/should-you-wash-chicken\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/health\\\/should-you-wash-chicken\\\/\",\"name\":\"Should you wash chicken before cooking it? 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