Don't rinse raw chicken, says BFSA, CFIA, USDA

[Alex]

The British Food Standards Agency has joined the chorus that advises to stop rinsing off raw chicken. The agency contends that 65 per cent of all raw chicken is contaminated with campylobacter, which causes food poisoning.

Cooking kills the bacteria; washing raw chicken just spreads it around the kitchen, the FSA says.

Here's the full story.

What do you think about that recommendation? Is campylobacter contamination primarily a supermarket chicken issue? I almost always buy whole chickens freshly killed, so I rinse them to get rid of the last traces of blood, then dry them well (and wash my hands thoroughly, of course).

[Paul Kierstead]

I suspect it is a sound recommendation. It is really easy to touch something, or splash, or set down the chicken somewhere inappropriate. I would imagine the overall recommendation is to handle it less.

That said, I will handle my chicken as necessary to make it good. If it seems to need rinsing, I am going to. I have become quite a bit more careful in the last couple of years though to get less cross contamination; touchless soap dispensers, prompt removal of items that the chicken has touched to the dishwasher, etc. We also rinse greens in a fresh bowl (not the sink) unless the sink has been fully sanitized just before, that kind of thing. I'm not germ phobic, but try to watch out for the serious culprits like potatoes, chicken, etc.

[mkayahara]

I'm not germ phobic, but try to watch out for the serious culprits like potatoes, chicken, etc.

Potatoes? What's wrong with potatoes?

[ElsieD]

Me too - potatoes?

[nakji]

I thought potatoes were usually the salmonella culprits in potato salad. I've got no citations on that, though.

[Paul Kierstead]

From my previous reading (long since lost the sources), the problem with potatoes is simply that we tend to be sloppy with them and forget they are covered in dirt. So people will peel them on their cutting board, or set unwashed ones on a cutting board, etc. They then don't treat these surfaces (and hands) as if they were contaminated, but you can imagine, the dirt isn't sanitized. So it is more a problem of remembering that potatoes straight out of the bag need respect. It is usually quoted as the common cause of salmonella in potato salad.

Here is the potato growers response to them being listed as #5 most common cause of food poisoning.

[inductioncook]

isn't it mayonnaise that poses the risk in potato salad?

[mkayahara]

From my previous reading (long since lost the sources), the problem with potatoes is simply that we tend to be sloppy with them and forget they are covered in dirt. So people will peel them on their cutting board, or set unwashed ones on a cutting board, etc. They then don't treat these surfaces (and hands) as if they were contaminated, but you can imagine, the dirt isn't sanitized. So it is more a problem of remembering that potatoes straight out of the bag need respect. It is usually quoted as the common cause of salmonella in potato salad.

Here is the potato growers response to them being listed as #5 most common cause of food poisoning.

OK, I get that, though most of the potatoes I buy seem to be pre-washed these days. (And personally, I treat all dirt-covered surfaces as contaminated.) But wouldn't the same thing apply to all root vegetables? Garlic, beets, radishes, etc.?

Edited to add: I guess it's just that a lot more people eat a lot more potatoes? Though onions would be another one, I'd think.

Edited August 5, 2010 by mkayahara (log)

[Dakki]

I thought potatoes were usually the salmonella culprits in potato salad. I've got no citations on that, though.

I could have sworn it was dirty eggshells contaminating the egg itself at cracking, and then using the raw egg in mayo.

As for veg, I sanitize everything. Even if the potato or whatever arrives at the market perfectly clean, the standards of hygiene of the 20,687 shoppers who checked it for blemishes before I did is open to question...

[sparrowgrass]

Salmonella can come from dirty eggshells, but it can also be inside the egg.

I always thought rinsing food was silly--if my kids came in from playing and rinsed their hands off in cold water, those grimy hands would not be clean. If you are not washing with soap/sanitizer, you are just spreading germs and dirt around.

[Blether]

When it comes to chicken, I don't expect to rinse shop-bought meat. There's nothing on it that will survive cooking to cause health problems. In fact, even if processing has smeared the meat with spilled chicken-shit, it would still be safe to cook - but unsightly. That, I'll rinse off.

Many of the vegetables we buy are washed before they hit the supermarket - potatoes are an exception, the dirt helping them to stay fresh. There are organisms in dirt that'll produce deadly toxins if you let them, but the same organisms are generally present on any unwashed vegetable, or uncleaned hand or shoe for that matter.

We survived as a species for tens of thousands of years before soap came along. There's certainly room for using modern knowledge in food hygiene, but at the same time it's sensible to recognise the realities.

[judiu]

I think that this issues with potatoes vs beets, etc, might be that we tend to eat the potato skins, whereas beets, etc, generally get peeled. Also, on things like radishes, the dirt is so easy to SEE, that it gets at least rinsed off.

[Dignan]

So long as we aren't eating them raw, wouldn't the same logic applied to cooking the dirty chicken apply to potatos (apart from point about the contamination of other surfaces prior to cooking)? Of course the grit wouldn't be appetizing....

[Paul Kierstead]

Yes, apparently the problem is that people don't treat uncooked potatoes like the treat uncooked chicken (*). The cooked product is generally fine, dirt or

not.

(*) Clearly meat, especially chicken, has a higher risk of pathogens then potatoes. It is messier for one thing. But most do not give it the respect it (potatoes) deserves.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Paul Kierstead (log)

[scott123]

I treat all raw meat like hazardous waste.

If the USDA can show me irrefutable proof that the supermarket chicken I'm buying was packed under pristine conditions, then sure, I'd stop rinsing chicken. Until then, though, I rinse.

[nickrey]

I don't know if it is apocryphal but Jacques Pepin has been reported to have said to Julia Child when she asked him why he didn't wash his chicken before cooking "if the bacteria can survive the temperature in that oven it deserves to kill me."

[Alcuin]

I don't know if it is apocryphal but Jacques Pepin has been reported to have said to Julia Child when she asked him why he didn't wash his chicken before cooking "if the bacteria can survive the temperature in that oven it deserves to kill me."

I'm pretty sure I remember him saying that on Jacques and Julia Cooking at Home. Not apocryphal, just awesome.

[paulraphael]

I treat all raw meat like hazardous waste.

If the USDA can show me irrefutable proof that the supermarket chicken I'm buying was packed under pristine conditions, then sure, I'd stop rinsing chicken. Until then, though, I rinse.

Missing the point.

The chicken is presumed contaminated. Rinsing does nothing to decontaminate it, but is very effective at spreading the bacteria all over the kitchen. Cooking is what actually gets rid of the bacteria.

[KD1191]

I treat all raw meat like hazardous waste.

If the USDA can show me irrefutable proof that the supermarket chicken I'm buying was packed under pristine conditions, then sure, I'd stop rinsing chicken. Until then, though, I rinse.

Missing the point.

The chicken is presumed contaminated. Rinsing does nothing to decontaminate it, but is very effective at spreading the bacteria all over the kitchen. Cooking is what actually gets rid of the bacteria.

Maybe Scott rinses with bleach?

[kitchengrl]

I'm surprised at how many people willfully miss this point. In fact, some guy got into a snit with me today over the rinse/don't rinse issue, which ended in a tirade about using "Kangan water" (some sort of ionized water) to rinse all the pathogens right off the meat. He also called me an idiot.

Regarding the potato question, potatoes are vehicles for food poisoning because, like many protein-containing foods, they provide a suitable medium for staphylococcal bacteria. It's not really about the dirt on the surface of the potato. Although the conventional wisdom on potato salad used to be that the mayonnaise was the culprit, we now know that mayonnaise is acidic enough (with a pH below 4) to retard pathogenic growth. Also, B. cereus tends to grow in potato (and rice), and is responsible for a pretty nasty form of food poisoning.

[bmdaniel]

So does washing the potato help or is it similar to chicken?

[ChickenStu]

Regarding the potato question, potatoes are vehicles for food poisoning because, like many protein-containing foods, they provide a suitable medium for staphylococcal bacteria.

+1

I've always thought the problem with potato salad was improper handling and cooling of potatoes post cooking. Foods can get a lot of bacteria from your hands, if you washed them then rubbed your neck, itched your face, etc.

If given proper time and conditions these bacteria can create the toxins that will make you sick.

I know there are people out there that cook up a bunch of potatoes, slap on their potato salad fixins, put it into a plastic container, and get it into the fridge to cool it off.

[ChickenStu]

So does washing the potato help or is it similar to chicken?

Wash your potatoes, no one likes dirty skins.

As for chicken, most chicken at slaughter are not contaminated with salmonella...that is at least until they are all cooled in the same water after they are de-feathered. Purchasing an air-cooled chicken such as a bell and evans dramatically decreases the chance of salmonella. The chance is always there though, and chicken should be always treated as such.

I always sanitize my entire counter as well as my sink after I prep chicken. Its not the bacteria on the chicken that makes you sick, its the bacteria that gets left on the counter and multiplies like crazy that does the job.

[dans]

isn't it mayonnaise that poses the risk in potato salad?

Negative. mayonnaise, especially the commercially prepared ones are too acidic to be a growth medium (at least that is what I remember from my sanitation class in culinary school). Raw potatoes are not potentially hazardous - remember, we store them in cool dry places for long periods of time. However, cooked potatoes are potentially hazardous.

The same hold true for tuna salad. The mayo may look horrible, but it is the tuna (or more specifically the protein).

Dan

[rooftop1000]

As far as all the salads go don't forget the celery...One local health official tried very hard to get my boss to blanch the celery for all our deli salads, to no avail the old man came up with another idea

tracey