Food Safety News – September 2010
To wash or not to wash chicken?
People who wash whole chickens before cooking them are increasing the risk of food poisoning for themselves and their households, research suggests.
An estimated three quarters of consumers who buy whole chickens wash them, potentially spreading bacteria on to work surfaces for up to a 3ft radius, research by Which? has revealed.
The most recent figures from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggest that 65% of raw shop-bought chicken is contaminated with campylobacter, the most common identified cause of food poisoning in the UK with symptoms including diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
Although cooking chicken properly will kill the bug, it may be responsible for over 300,000 cases of food poisoning and 15,000 hospitalisations a year in England and Wales.
An FSA spokeswoman said: ''Washing raw poultry is a common kitchen mistake, and it simply isn't necessary.
''Tap water won't get rid of the germs that cause food poisoning but they will be killed by thorough cooking. By washing your raw bird, you're actually more likely to spread the germs around the kitchen than get rid of them.''
Find out more about this research
Our comment:
Old habits die hard and washing whole chickens has passed from generation to generation. Our auditors commonly find chefs doing this and risking spreading germs found predominantly inside the carcass to other parts of the chicken and throughout the kitchen via the aerosol spray formed. Do you know what your chefs are doing?
NB. The same advice on avoiding washing chicken applies to duck, turkey etc.
Please give one of our Environmental Practitioners a call on 01727 866779 or email principals@hygieneauditsystems.com to find out how we can help your business to control these risks
