Food poisoning – how risky is supermarket chicken?

The problem stems from poor animal husbandry and slaughterhouse management. Chemical treatment or irradiation is undoubtedly effective in dealing with contaminated meat but that prevention is better than treatment.

I do not like the recommendation not to wash meat. Most of the bacteria will be present in the juices and on the surface of the meat, especially where chicken has diced or otherwise cut up. Washing will remove a lot of bacteria and their toxins. Transferring chicken to a pan, rinsing it thoroughly and then cooking it need not contaminate the kitchen.

Fridges should be designed with a covered watertight drawer marked ‘fresh meat’ at the bottom. This needs to be removable for easy cleaning. The old idea of having a salad chiller at the bottom of a fridge was rather irresponsible, because of the danger of contamination from raw meat juices, etc.

Usual daft scare stories. It’s come from a dead, cut-up animal so of course it contains bacteria etc. Prepare it, wash your hands and the work surface with ordinary soap and hot water and then cook it properly. Next, enjoy it and stop fretting. There’s money to be made frightening folk about terrible germs. Apart from the usual caveats about the young, infirm and elderly get on with life and stop worrying. I’d be far more worried about eating in a house that is continually blitzed with anti-bacterial cleaners!

The assumption here appears to be that everyone chooses to buy and eat decomposing bits of dead animals. As a vegetarian I choose not to. However I don’t assume to be “holier than thou” and point fellow veges (and vendors to them) to the excellent guidance on vege food poisoning risks on the Kensington and Chelsea council’s web site: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/businessandenterprise/regulation/healthandsafety/foodsafetyatoz/vegetarianguidetofoodhygie.aspx

i was a butcher, as long as you keep chickens in a fridge, and take them straight home after purchase and put them in a fridge there is no problem.. its when you leave them out and they start getting warm there is your problem. in the supermarket check dates , try to buy your meat and cold stuff last thing so your not walking around with it.

Of course, I’m a completely unreconstructed sceptic when it comes to food safety. I don’t apologise for my attitude and equally never expect anyone else to do things my way unless they eat at my house.
On a serious but almost impossible query though, how can we differentiate in these studies between those who eat a wholly artificial,sanitised diet and could never expect to encounter many micro-organisms and idiots like me who are sensible when it comes to things like raw or undercooked poultry but otherwise eat anything and everything fresh, stale or iffy looking? I also love unpasteurised dairy produce. I simply don’t contract gastro-intestinal illnesses, severe or transitory. There has to be some correlation surely? I’m not Superman!

Totally agree with Par ailleurs and Rich835. You wonder how we survived as a species before refrigeration, pasteurisation and high pressure whatever.

How did we survive before refrigeration and modern hygiene? Well, often we didn’t – people died younger and from causes such as food poisoning a lot more in the past than they do now. Even so, thousands of people suffer from food poisoning every year and some – generally the very young, old or ill – even die from it. It is indeed a relatively simple matter to safely store and prepare raw meat and vegetables but claims that it is simply common sense clearly make little sense given the number of cases of food poisoning year after year

(And by the way, food poisoning is not something against which you can develop immunity)

Well OK, there are thousands of cases of food poisoning per annum most relatively trivial, some serious. Firstly, take my point about exactly which type of citizen might largely be affected and then take the number of cases per annum against the billions of meals prepared and eaten out or at home and put things into at least some perspective.
Washing meat? For goodness sake (in both senses) don’t do it. Take basic and sensible precautions. No more, no less.
Lastly, to answer the point about people dying young in the past, they certainly did but we are not comparing anything faintly resembling like with like. We can’t turn this into a history lecture but read up a bit about living and working conditions in any period up to the mid 20th C. Thankfully a lot more has changed in the world than just food hygeine.
If you want to see what is supposed to be the serious side of this then find the video instruction on how to wash your hands properly and be at risk of premature death from losing the abilty to breathe from laughing.

I hope that people have got the message that raw food may be contaminated with food poisoning organisms and needs to be treated in some way to reduce the risk to acceptable levels. Washing and peeling of fruit and veg immediately before consumption, together with removal of defective bits is usually enough, but heating is more positive and pasteurization was developed for that purpose. Cooking must achieve a temp. of at least 70C in every part of the food which means that using microwave cookers for solid food such as chicken is quite risky. However I still believe that cross contamination from raw chicken is the major risk, rather than undercooking. Many people do not have room in their fridges, donot own 2 chopping boards and a special chicken knife, but even if they did they would still find lots of ways to cross contaminate themselves and many other things.
The ideal solution is to eliminate the problem at source and we are moving that way, but in the meantime I would welcome the use of food processor treatments to reduce the problem to acceptable levels, including those suggested; irradiation, food acid washes, chlorine. I am amazed that consumers prefer the risk of food poisoning for themselves and their families.
What exactly were the questions asked and was there any pre-questionaire statement?

Can only say that I have been eating chicken daily since before WW2 without a problem – except once after eating a meal in a restaurant about three years ago. I rarely eat any other meat due to cost. I have eaten it during camping over an open fire – BBQ – microwaved – oven roasted or not – stored in a fridge or not.. Somehow I feel this is a storm in a teacup.

Derek, you’re doubtless a lovely chap but you’ve been brainwashed. Relax and enjoy and stop worrying. When I see these instructions about washing this, sterilizing that and different knives for different foods etc etc I just think (a) like richard I’m still fine and never get sick and (b) where’s the love in your kitchen? Human beings are tough old things if you give them a chance to thrive.
An interesting convo but I’ll go now as the two factions are poles apart and will never meet.

Bringing raw meat into the domestic kitchen is a risk where commercial hygiene practices to manage cross-contamination are not easily followed – e.g. separate fridge, sink and preparation areas for uncooked, cooked and hot foods, The Conversation is helpful in reminding us of the commonality and severity of these risks.

But given a percentage of contamination is inevitable, and it needs to be eliminated during cooking, I don’t understand why the use of meat thermometers to check the internal temperature of food isn’t commonplace in UK domestic kitchens, as it is in North America.

Apart from ensuring food safety, I find that the time and temperature method specified on much of the supermarket packaging is unreliable and generally results in unnecessarily dry, overcooked meat. Even with a fan oven temperature of 180°C – which I check regularly with a calibated meter – most chicken products emerge after the recommended cooking time at around 80-85°C internal, whereas 70-75°C is sufficent to kill bacteria and provide a good eating texture. And it is almost essential to use this method with barbequed meats, due to the highly-variable cooking temperatures, unless you are happy with semi-raw or charcoal-blackened sausages and chicken pieces.

So why do I have difficulty in sourcing a cheap, practical, reliable and long-lasting meat thermometer, or finding recommended meat temperatures in this country? Maybe Which? could introduce a consumer test, highlighting the benefits of this method of cooking and suggest some best-buys. The best one I’ve found so far is a Weber digital pocket thermometer for around £15 and I get recommended meat temperatures from the USDA.

Methinks this is a step too far into a brave new world,.

I don’t like the way the article is negative towards organic chicken. This method is traditional. All animals forage for food it is natural. I do not want my chicken to be treated with anything other than steam. You should not wash chicken as it does transfer bacteria around the kitchen without you even knowing it (as you can’t see it). The less you handle chicken the better as the oven will kill off any bacteria as long as you follow correct cooking guidelines. We have been eating chicken for years enough of this scare mongering.

Wow nobody owned up to being made sick then?

All armchair hypothesis?

Common sense must prevail. All poultry contains bacteria – deal with it