Is It safe to wash meat before cooking? Bacterias are everywhere. They can be beneficial, like Lactobacillus, or harmful, like Salmonella and Campylobacter, the most common food pathogens affecting millions of people, resulting in severe and even fatal illnesses.
Foods involved in outbreaks of these bacteria include eggs, unpasteurized milk, and meats, particularly raw or undercooked poultry.
After being contaminated, symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea appear between 12 to 36 hours and can last from 2 to 7 days.
In this post, you will learn in detail if it is safe to wash meat before cooking.
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
― Samuel Butler, The Note Books Of Samuel Butler
Jump To Section
What World Agencies Are Saying
You can also watch this and other exclusive GA Originals on YouTube.
The WHO estimates that nearly 600 million or 1 in 10 people fall ill due to food poisoning, and 420,000 die each year in the world. In the US, approximately 1.35 million people are infected with Salmonella annually. In these numbers are the main victims – the elderly and children under 5, with 125,000 deaths.
The 2019 World Bank report indicated the economic burden of foodborne illness, with an estimated annual loss of US$95.2 billion, with the cost of treatment being around US$15 billion.
Foodborne diseases are usually caused by cross-contamination when pathogenic microorganisms are transferred from contaminated food, kitchen tools, or surface to another food, tools, or surface that was not infected.
One of the most common practices when preparing meats or chicken is to wash them before cooking. However, when rinsing chicken, for example, inevitably spills from the wash carrying thousands of bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter will contaminate your clothing, hands, arms, knives, surfaces, and other foods may be nearby.
A study by the USDA revealed that contaminated droplets could disperse 50 to 70 cm from the sink where meats were washed.
According to the Australian Food Safety Information Council, 60% of home cooks in Australia wash poultry before cooking.
The UK Food Standards Agency also revealed that more than two-fifths of English cooks routinely wash chicken during preparation.
Excuses are because family members do the same or because they want to remove blood, impurities, or germs.
All agencies mentioned state unanimously that washing poultry or other meats before cooking places human health at risk.
Believing that such a practice is safe or that it prevents diseases; in fact, the opposite is true since what is done is to spread the bacteria even more in an attempt to eliminate them.
Trust me; if you have raw chicken, for example, you have salmonella or campylobacter bacteria, or even both. Learning that washing poultry or other raw meats before cooking them is really a problem… is already an essential step.
What the Experts Are Saying
Experts claim that it doesn’t matter if you’re rinsing with hot water, soap, vinegar, or lemon juice; they all pose risks.
The water temperature is not hot enough to kill bacteria. Soaking the chicken in vinegar or lemon juice will also be inefficient. Both do not have a high degree of acidity that will kill all bacteria, even because lemon and vinegar are edible.
Not to mention that pouring hot water, lemon, or vinegar on meats before cooking will affect the final texture and flavor of the dish.
Bottom Line
The best way to eliminate bacteria is to keep the kitchen clean and sanitized.
In addition, baking, broiling, grilling, and boiling are all safe methods of preparing food, as long as the meat reaches the necessary internal temperature above 70ºC after preparation, especially pork and chicken. Check food temperatures using a culinary thermometer.
Did you like this article?
I hope this article has helped you understand how to stay safe while preparing your food. To learn more, take a look at Chef Knives: Learn How To Use It Safely And Efficiency.
Leave a comment below and share our content.
Help our community grow by following our social media on Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Tiktok. And stay up to date with the news from the world of Gastronomy.
Don’t forget to tag @gastrovinoacademy on Instagram and hashtag it #gastrovinoacademy.
Cheers 🍷
