Why do people rinse their chicken before they cook it?!


Question: I didn't know people did that; I've never rinsed chicken or turkey before cooking it. What's the point? Simply rinsing with water does NOT kill bacteria like salmonella--only high heat and thorough cooking can do that. What's important is scrubbing (not rinsing) your hands, cutting board, and utensils after handling & preparing the raw meat.


Answers: I didn't know people did that; I've never rinsed chicken or turkey before cooking it. What's the point? Simply rinsing with water does NOT kill bacteria like salmonella--only high heat and thorough cooking can do that. What's important is scrubbing (not rinsing) your hands, cutting board, and utensils after handling & preparing the raw meat.

I dunno... because you are supposed to rinse all meat (except red) and fish before cooking it.

Not sure who made the rule, but apparently it's very good to do this.

<shrugs>

to get that smell off it.

you dont know whos hands have been on it ...and it has all the chcken juices on it

well, you should rinse everything. what if someone at the store handled it with dirty fingers?! it's good to rinse, just like veggies n fruit

who knows who touched it before being packaged

Now that a funny question to ask. But they do so because it has to be clean befor eaten.

To rinse the bacteria off of it

Because of salmonella.

There are bacteria on the skin - a quick wash will fix things right up so that your family doesn't get ill!

They rinse it because of how many people have touched it and theres biproducts on the outer side wich is bad for you!

Maybe to get any surface germs off? I know when I was younger my mom use to cover the chicken or any meat, with vinegar to get bacteria off. So probably for the same reasons.

...chicken can contain salmonella virus... ALWAYS wash your chicken...

Rinsing chicken before cookin just ensures that any left over blood, grit, etc is off the bird before you cook it. Not that any of this will hurt you, they may just give the bird a strong flavor. Me personally, I always recommend a brine before cooking any pork of poultry.

Because they could have diseases or feathers on them.

Poultry on a whole produces many bacterias, when poultry is left out to thaw many of these bacteria become alive again and even multiply. As a rule of thumb,after thawing poultry you should wash it with plain white vinegar or just a salt water solution.The slime that this method washes away is loaded with bacteria.

I rinse my chicken to get rid of any residue from processing the chicken in the factory.

I wouldn't want to come out of a vigorous exercise (covered in sweat) and put on my dress clothes...I'd shower first!

Think about it!

To rinse any bacteria or other critters that may be lurking.

..its because of extra film or dirt on the chicken,
but I'll tell you a little secret, have you ever eaten hospital food, they never clean or rinse off any thing not even the lettuce or vegetables everyone seems to enjoy. They take from the container it came in,cut it up and display it .NOW THAT'S GROSS!

You are correct. Rinsing chicken is a stupid practice. I read a comment by a famous chef that indicated that rinsing chicken not only doesn't do anything to kill germs in the chicken, it actually creates germs within the sink and on any items that get spashed during the rinsing process (and tiny water particles do get splashed more than you may realize).

You need to cook chicken to 160 - 170 f, and that kills any germs or salmonella. Rinsing is a bad practice

Your suppose to rinse your chickens before you cook them,to wash off any blood that may be on their and to get any germs off that may be on their,if you don't clean your chickens first you could possible wind up with some salmoneea poisioning or something.Please wah your chicken before you cook it for yourself or when your going to fed in to other people okay.

HYGIENE!! SWEETIE!!

They think they are cleaning off the bacteria, when in reality they could be doing a cross contamination. I have to agree with Mark's answer. The bacteria can easily spread to other objects and that's definitely not safe. If you have to, just simply pat off any excess wetness from the chicken and immediately throw away the paper towels.





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