Chicken - To wash or not to wash

While browsing the big, bad interwebs, I came across this article, shared on Facebook.

It seems that some people wash their chicken meat, before they prepare it. I hadn't heard of such things before, but it seems that quite a few people do this. I'm not sure if it's a USA, culture, or an upbringing thing.

To wash, or not to wash

I never wash my chicken before preparing it for a meal. I don't really see the point. I wash my hands after chopping up the raw chicken, because you gotta get those nasty bacteria off of your hands. I also make sure to put the knife and chopping board in the dishwasher right after using them. You know, to avoid the whole cross-contamination thing. However, the actual bacteria on the raw chicken? I always figured they would die from heat while cooking.

Turns out, this article says the exact same thing. There is no point in washing your chicken, because you don't clean off all of the bacteria by washing it with cold water. Bacteria die through heat while you cook/bake/fry your chicken.

Actually, when washing your raw chicken, you increase the risk for cross-contamination, because of all the bacteria-filled water drops splashing everywhere. So the way I see it, you're better off just chopping that thing up and heating it up in your pan, without washing it first.

Just wash your hands after handling raw meat and let heat take care of bacteria!

People's reactions

After reading the article, I went back to Facebook to check the comments. Plenty of people decided to disregard the entire article, throwing all rationality into the wind, and went on explaining how you should definitely was the nasty chicken first.

A few people said this:

"I've worked at a chicken processing plant and lived near a chicken breeder if you only knew what goes on behind the seen. I will continue to wash all of my meat and vegetables."
"Sorry but your experts don't take into account that humans handle, divide and wrapup raw chicken. Having worked in several meat depts, alot of handling is a concern regarding dirty hands, dropped pieces, etc. I for one wash all my meats. Safe than sorry!"

Okay, fair enough, that's a good point. However, those dirty hands handling the chicken transfer bacteria. The very bacteria you're trying to wash off. The experts just told you that cold water won't manage to wash off all bacteria...

One person stated this quite simply:

"But you're not washing it, you are rinsing it. You aren't removing anything, only spreading it"

While another one had this to say:

"Makes no sense, cooking it kills bacteria. Wash veggies, sure, to remove dirt and stuff but like they say in the article, washing meat before you cook it is pointless and spreads bacteria instead of reducing it."

So as long as there's no visible dirt on your meat, I think it's pretty safe to say that heat is your main friend here.

One person was quite clear about his opinion on the matter:

"Why are people so stupid. Water spreads bacteria, what fucking morons told you splashing water on something removes bacteria"

Not the most subtle person, but he gets his point across.

Like I said, I don't wash my meat. I, for one, have never really seen any dirt on a piece of meat from it being dropped by people handling it, so I don't see the point. The only nasty things I expect on my chicken aren't washed off by cold water. They are killed by heat. However, there might be something else I'm missing here, so I'd like to hear from you!