Washing Chicken

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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It seems that a lot of people still believe washing chicken is hygienic. In fact the opposite is true. In the UK some supermarket chickens are now labelled 'do not wash'. Personally, I've never done so and was surprised to find that some people still do this.

Do you still wash chicken?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27864423
 
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No I don't!
There are hygiene warnings in some supermarkets and on the packaging!
We've been here before with this one, and some people will still do what they have always done, my attitude is reduce risk of cross contamination,
 
Berties said:
No I don't!
There are hygiene warnings in some supermarkets and on the packaging!
We've been here before with this one, and some people will still do what they have always done, my attitude is reduce risk of cross contamination,
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Yes I recall we discussed it some time back but it just came up in a recipe here so I thought I'd flag it up again for those who aren't aware of the risks.
 
Madhur Jaffrey has always advised the washing of chicken (and so does my wife). Strangely enough, neither advise washing of beef, pork or lamb (unless I missed it).

What about fish and seafood?

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Well, you may be right about Madhur Jaffrey although I've trawled through old and new cookery books by her which I possess and can't find any reference. It may be that because she grew up in India it was common practice there. The main references to chicken in earlier books all talk about skinning the chicken but not washing it. I am certain she would not advocate washing it these days though!
 
I'm going back this far..........

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She was probably only 16 when she wrote that! :roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

She was 83 years old last August.
 
morning glory said:
Yes I recall we discussed it some time back but it just came up in a recipe here so I thought I'd flag it up again for those who aren't aware of the risks.
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It's come up a couple of times, and yes you are very right to highlight the risks of washing poultry , this has been my exact point in the past , I can inform you of any risks , but then good practice whether at home or the industry is up to the individuals
 
morning glory said:
This is one of the books a looked through but couldn't see a reference... just reference to skinning it. Written in 1982, I believe.
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You are correct, of course :).

It is Mridula Baljekar who advocates (or did) washing chicken prior to cooking. I use the recipes in this book fairly regularly so I got confused:

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If the stories are correct, my dad, and most of his brothers and sisters got volunteered to help one of the brother's in 4-H clean many many chickens. Not sure, but my older cousins may have gotten volunteered too. I heard it was about 100 chickens. Needless to say that side of the family does not eat much chicken now.
*I mean these chickens were live when my uncle brought them home.
 
Cinisajoy said:
If the stories are correct, my dad, and most of his brothers and sisters got volunteered to help one of the brother's in 4-H clean many many chickens. Not sure, but my older cousins may have gotten volunteered too. I heard it was about 100 chickens. Needless to say that side of the family does not eat much chicken now.
*I mean these chickens were live when my uncle brought them home.
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Done the "turkey shed" once.
Three off us working through nearly 400. Nice way to spend a day.

The joys of country living.
 
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