(WAND) – Federal leaders are warning people to never wash raw chicken.
Raw chicken meat and its juices can prove dangerous, a press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. It may be contaminated with Campylobacter, Salmonella or Clostridium perfringens bacteria and could lead to a person getting food poisoning.
A CDC list of steps to take to avoid food poisoning when handling raw chicken says in bold that it should not be washed. If it is, those possibly contaminated juices can infect foods, utensils and kitchen countertops.
That advice drew some backlash on social media, especially on Twitter:
This is terrible advice 😒
— Meliann Lew 🇯🇲 (@MeliannLew) April 30, 2019
Or...you could...clean the sink afterwards...
— Ebony, but not amateur (@usuallyeb) April 26, 2019Only people that don’t wash raw chicken, look like raw chicken
— King Sarah ✨ (@Asap_chuang) April 27, 2019
CDC leaders responded to public criticism with another tweet saying germs should be killed by thorough cooking and not by washing:
We didn’t mean to get you all hot about not washing your chicken! 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!
— CDC (@CDCgov) April 29, 2019
An NBC News report found the practice of washing raw chicken is pretty common. In fact, a Drexel University survey found 90 percent of people wash the meat before cooking it.
