Washing Your Meat Before Cooking Can Actually Cause Food Poisoning

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Last Updated on 2022-10-05 , 12:34 pm

I know, I know. It seems like every day the internet debunks one of your strongly-held beliefs or even contradicts something that seemed like common sense.

Like how you don’t have to drink 8 glasses of water a day.

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Or how eggs don’t actually contribute to high cholesterol.

What’s next, washing raw meat before cooking can cause food poisoning?

Well, yes.

A party for bacteria

According to the Centre for Disease Control, raw meat or poultry should not be washed before cooking because it can spread bacteria.

The contaminated water from washing the raw meat can splash onto other foods, utensils, and surfaces. This cross-contamination can lead to the potential for food poisoning.

Poultry can carry salmonella and beef can have E.coli, so when these meat juice droplets end up on your kitchen counter, you’re creating a breeding ground for potential foodborne illnesses.

So, if you’re having a party with many guests, anyone who touches these contaminated surfaces and then their face can get food poisoning.

And then you’ll end up guest-less, eating and talking to yourself at future parties.

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Overly-attached germs

One other reason not to wash your raw meat is that it doesn’t actually prevent illnesses.

According to the USDA, while some of the bacteria can be washed, other bacteria are too tightly attached to the meat to be removed (We’ve all been there, bacteria).

So how do you kill the bacteria in your meat?

Well, considering that some raw meat may even contain fecal matter, what should we do then? Wash it with soap?

No.

In order to kill the bacteria, you literally have to cook the shit out of it (pun completely intended).

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Chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of 74°C, beef 63°C, and pork 71°C.

If you’re an inexperienced cook, invest in a meat thermometer.

In other words, instead of washing away the bacteria, you kill it instead. Pretty simple, isn’t it?

And if you’ve been laosai-ing for the last few weeks, here are some other common kitchen habits you should break.

Leaving food out

Food that has been left out of the fridge for more than two hours should be thrown away because bacteria grow rapidly at room temperature.

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Mixing raw and cooked foods

Raw meat and cooked foods go together like water and a computer keyboard. It’s not a good idea because bacteria from the raw meat can spread to the cooked foods you are going to eat.

Using the wrong cutting board

According to The New Paper, a wooden cutting board may be more hygienic than a plastic one. The knife marks on plastic boards breeds and holds onto bacteria, while the knife marks on wooden boards are not as deep.

While we would like to believe we all have stomachs as strong as Thor’s hammer, there are a few symptoms of food poisoning we should look out for:

  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Abdominal cramping

Stay healthy!

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]