Top Tips for Chicken Food Safety
Undoubtedly, chicken is a beloved and easy-to-prepare meal. It can easily capture the taste buds and hearts of many people. But to enjoy such benefits, it is a must to be responsible when handling and storing it. It is quite vital to almost always follow specific food-handling practices, regardless of whether you are preparing a meal for yourself or your family. This is because all agricultural products, whether chicken or fruit, might contain bacteria that will make way for diseases and health issues. So, it is essential to take safety measures. Here are the top tips for chicken food safety.
1. Avoid Washing Raw Chicken Before Cooking
It is a fact that raw chicken does not need to be washed before cooking, and it should not be. Doing so risks splashing the chicken juices and other accompanying bacteria all around the kitchen into prepared foods, utensils, etc. Although modern chicken processing conditions, as well as practices, make sure that the chicken reaches your residence with little to no bacteria on it, there can still be some of it present. Washing the chicken will create a chance for cross-contamination within the kitchen space and contribute to foodborne illness. So, it is crucial to ensure that any item that comes into contact with raw chicken is washed. Do not forget to wash your hands as well.
2. Thoroughly Cook the Chicken
Thoroughly cooking chicken quite easily kills the bacteria of concern when it comes to food safety. For checking, if you own a food thermometer, it should at least reach 75 degrees Celsius or 167 degrees Fahrenheit when you insert it into the thickest and deepest chicken part. In case you do not own a food thermometer, the juices must run clear and not pink when you pierce the chicken using a fork or skewer to the thickest chicken part. The chicken’s colour should consistently remain white when you cut it in half at the thickest point.
3. Do not Defrost the Frozen Chicken on the Bench
Carefully bought raw chicken should always be thawed below 5 degrees Celsius or 41 degrees Fahrenheit. This typically means using a microwave or a fridge. Although the microwave is considered the fastest, it will damage the chicken’s quality if you are not careful. The easiest method is to just defrost gradually overnight in the fridge as that will help maintain the chicken’s quality without sacrificing safety. To prevent cross-contamination, simply place the chicken in a container.
It is safe to place defrosted chicken back into the freezer. However, it is safe only if you defrosted using the previous tip and did not do so for longer than 24 hours. The myth that it is unsafe to re-freeze chicken meat that was defrosted emerges from confusing two issues, i.e. safety and quality. Although it is safe to place chicken that has been defrosted back into the freezer, freezing as well as re-freezing may deteriorate the chicken’s quality.
Many people prefer consuming chicken frequently, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, to keep the illness away, you need to take proper safety measures and ensure chicken food safety. Follow the tips from this article to guarantee that your chicken is safe.