Put that chicken down, it’s clean enough already.
Your Back Page scribbler grew up in a household where there was an aphorism for every occasion.
One of my mother’s favourites was: “You can’t be too careful.”
Being a bit of a cheeky child, I would sometimes reply: “You probably can be.” Depending on the mood, such witticism could be greeted with either a benign smile, a sigh of resignation, or the brandishing of a wooden spoon.
It’s taken a few decades, but it turns out the young smart alec was partly correct – at least when it comes to the safe preparation of raw chicken for human consumption, that is.
As someone who probably cooks chicken at least once a week, we can happily and healthily say we have not ever thought to wash the poultry before prepping it for the meal.
So we were quite surprised to learn from the Food Safety Information Council that more than half of Australians (51%) usually do wash their chickens before cooking commences.
What’s even more interesting is that not only is this step deemed unnecessary, according to our food boffins it might even do more harm than good.
“Despite what you’ve been told or seen on social media, you should never wash raw chicken before cooking as this will likely spread bacteria throughout your kitchen, increasing the risk of foodborne illness,” the Food Safety Council’s deputy chair Associate Professor Julian Cox said in a media released.
Speaking as part of Food Safety Week (who knew?), Professor Cox said that chicken already underwent washing during processing, so further washing in the kitchen was “problematic”. The need to wash any poultry before cooking was a “total myth” which could “increase food safety risk”, he said.
Cooking chicken to 75°C, checked using a meat thermometer in the thickest part, ensured that all bacteria were killed, he added.
The council provided a list of handy tips for the safe preparation of poultry, which you can read here if you really want to, but rest assured they can all be safely filed under the heading: Bleeding Obvious.
Having said that, the big cheeses of the Food Safety Council also pointed out that there were an estimated 4.67 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year that resulted in 47,900 hospitalisations and 38 deaths.
So not everybody is being “too careful” after all.
Send your raw and unwashed story tips to Holly@medicalrepublic.com.au.
