The CDC Has Issued a Warning About Washing Your Raw Chicken

Of all the different types of meat there are to consume, chicken has to be one of the most common. After all, when trying something a little more unusual, people often compare it to chicken. Chicken is that common.

Our kids love chicken strips at restaurants. We love whole chickens at Costco. We’ve also been known to make quite a few chicken recipes at home.

If you like chicken, and if you like to cook chicken, we have one question for you. Do you wash your chicken before you cook it?

We remember seeing generations before us washing chicken in the sink before cooking it. That’s just what you do. The reasoning is that it washes away the bacteria that chicken can contain (including Clostridium perfringens bacteria, Campylobacter bacteria, and Salmonella).

But here’s the kicker: Washing your chicken doesn’t actually kill any bacteria. You know what does? Cooking it to an internal temperature of 165˚F.

It turns out that washing raw chicken is not only not helpful, but it can actually be harmful. When you wash raw chicken in the sink, you’re most likely spreading the bacteria from the chicken all over the sink and onto any dishes or utensils that you’re using. Therefore, if you wash raw chicken, you could make yourself or your family sick.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning via Tweet stating, “Don’t wash your raw chicken! Washing can spread germs from the chicken to other food or utensils in the kitchen.”

The internet is completely divided on this issue. Even though the CDC is making the recommendation, many, many people are stubbornly refusing to listen to reason. They will, no matter what anyone says, continue to wash their chicken.

As one comment reads,

So we’re suppose to just “cook off” all that gunk from it sitting in a maxi pad for god knows how long? Eating left over feathers and bone dust 🤢🤮. I’ll continue washing mine and not getting sick from “spread germs”. Y’all enjoy.

On the side of reason, the side that understands that washing chicken doesn’t kill germs, one person wrote,

I don’t know what people think ‘hot’ tap water is doing to kill germs, but ok I’m just going to let them rock. I just like how people pick and choose what they want to believe.

Do you wash raw chicken? Will you stop washing it now that you know it can actually be dangerous to wash it?