David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Do you rinse off your poultry? Cut that out.
CTV NewsAugust 4, 2011
With an outbreak of salmonella in the U.S. being traced back to turkey, this might be a good time to remind kitchen chefs of an easy way to help avoid food poisoning: stop washing off your chicken and turkey.
I know, celebrity chefs have advocated for decades rinsing out whole turkeys and chickens and running cut pieces of poultry under the tap, but it’s actually a big food safety no-no.
Last year, The British Food Standards Agency noted that 65 per cent of all raw chicken is contaminated with campylobacter.
Don’t really know what that is? Not to worry; most of us don’t. Let’s just say it’s one of the most common causes of diarrheal illness in Canada. But because it’s rarely associated with recognized outbreaks, it doesn’t get as much attention as other bacteria, like E. coli and salmonella.
Rinsing off your poultry isn’t a good way to get rid of campylobacter or salmonella; in fact, it’s a great way to ensure that contaminated water droplets and spray get all over your kitchen counter.
Washing chicken is also silly because it doesn’t accomplish much. Cooking poultry properly will kill off campylobacter and salmonella anyway. Just remember to get the meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 Celsius).
It’s all important advice given that the salmonella strain causing the outbreak in the U.S. appears to be more resistant than usual to antibiotics, meaning more infected people are ending up in hospital.
Twenty-two of the 78 people diagnosed with salmonella as a result of the outbreak have now been hospitalized, Dr. Chris Braden, an official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
One person has died.
Salmonella poisoning can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after ingestion. Symptoms of campylobacter poisoning are similar but tend to hit two to five days later.
Both sicknesses usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.
But severe diarrhea can lead to severe dehydration. And if the infection spreads from the intestines into the blood, it can cause the potentially fatal condition of septicemia.
CTV NewsAugust 4, 2011
With an outbreak of salmonella in the U.S. being traced back to turkey, this might be a good time to remind kitchen chefs of an easy way to help avoid food poisoning: stop washing off your chicken and turkey.
I know, celebrity chefs have advocated for decades rinsing out whole turkeys and chickens and running cut pieces of poultry under the tap, but it’s actually a big food safety no-no.
Last year, The British Food Standards Agency noted that 65 per cent of all raw chicken is contaminated with campylobacter.
Don’t really know what that is? Not to worry; most of us don’t. Let’s just say it’s one of the most common causes of diarrheal illness in Canada. But because it’s rarely associated with recognized outbreaks, it doesn’t get as much attention as other bacteria, like E. coli and salmonella.
Rinsing off your poultry isn’t a good way to get rid of campylobacter or salmonella; in fact, it’s a great way to ensure that contaminated water droplets and spray get all over your kitchen counter.
Washing chicken is also silly because it doesn’t accomplish much. Cooking poultry properly will kill off campylobacter and salmonella anyway. Just remember to get the meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 Celsius).
It’s all important advice given that the salmonella strain causing the outbreak in the U.S. appears to be more resistant than usual to antibiotics, meaning more infected people are ending up in hospital.
Twenty-two of the 78 people diagnosed with salmonella as a result of the outbreak have now been hospitalized, Dr. Chris Braden, an official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
One person has died.
Salmonella poisoning can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after ingestion. Symptoms of campylobacter poisoning are similar but tend to hit two to five days later.
Both sicknesses usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.
But severe diarrhea can lead to severe dehydration. And if the infection spreads from the intestines into the blood, it can cause the potentially fatal condition of septicemia.
