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As the most abundant bird on the planet, chicken is a perfect source of food for billions of people around the world, with an estimated 74 billion of our feathered friends consumed yearly.
Unless you’re vegetarian, odds are you’ll chow down on some white meat sometime this week. And why not? There are nearly as many recipes as there are chickens (30 billion), and until cows and sheep start pooping out chops and steaks, the chicken will reign supreme when it comes to getting our protein in.
Moral indignation at the thought of eating chicken may leave some feeling like they ate too many peri-peri wings, but for the soul food-loving folks out there who helped Nando’s grow to 1,300 outlets in 30 countries, there is but one question: Should you wash chicken before cooking?
This may be a jarring segue into the topic of our headline, but thanks to some Instagram chicken lovers, the question has been on many greasy lips lately. Content creators Joey Wellness and Dominic DeAngelis took to Instagram recently to prepare chicken in two ways (washed and unwashed) to taste the different results between the two.
Their video has however sparked debate over whether or not chicken should be washed before it is cooked.
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The comments that the post received mostly confirmed the belief that the ‘other’ white meat should be washed, as illustrated by one user who quipped: “People washing fruits and vegetables but not washing dead flesh is incredibly mind-blowing.”
Fortunately for us, science still has a few answers outside of the sage wisdom we receive via social media, and among the medical science community, there is consensus that washing chicken is not recommended.
Despite the overwhelming number of individuals who argue raw poultry needs to be rinsed, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises consumers against it. The CDC even issued an emphatic reminder to home cooks about how to prevent food poisoning while cooking chicken.
“Don’t wash your raw chicken!” the organisation tweeted in 2019. “Washing can spread germs from the chicken to other food or utensils in the kitchen.”
Don’t wash your raw chicken! Washing can spread germs from the chicken to other food or utensils in the kitchen. https://t.co/QlFpd1alG3 pic.twitter.com/bLB1ofcuh7
— CDC (@CDCgov) April 26, 2019
“We didn’t mean to get you all hot about not washing your chicken!” the CDC wrote in a follow-up tweet. “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!”
Don’t wing food safety – classic chicken humour.
The heat from cooking or boiling chicken is also more than enough to kill harmful bacteria. However, if you are still anxious, you can try some alternate cleaning methods.
Research reveals that using salt, vinegar, or lemons to clean the raw chicken can be helpful. Scrub the surface of the chicken with a half-cut lemon. You can also rub salt on the chicken and leave it covered in a clean utensil inside the refrigerator for an hour.
Additionally, using traditional Indian spices like turmeric, which possesses natural antibiotic properties, also eliminates bacteria. Chicken must be the only meal where the best way to clean it, also adds to the flavour.
What a cock-a-doodle-miracle meat!
