Chicken can be a nutritious choice, but raw chicken is often contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria and sometimes with Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens bacteria. If you eat undercooked chicken, you can get a foodborne illness, also called food poisoning. You can also get sick if you eat other foods or beverages that are contaminated by raw chicken or its juices.
You can get sick from contaminated chicken if it’s not cooked thoroughly or if its juices leak in the refrigerator or get on kitchen surfaces and then get on something you eat raw, such as salad.
If chicken is on your menu, follow these tips when shopping, cooking and eating out to help prevent food poisoning:
- Place chicken in a disposable bag before putting it in your shopping cart or refrigerator to keep raw juices from getting onto other foods.
- Wash hands with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling chicken.
- Do not wash raw chicken. During washing, chicken juices can spread in the kitchen and contaminate other foods, utensils, and countertops.
- Use a separate cutting board for raw chicken.
- Never place cooked food or fresh produce on a plate, cutting board, or other surfaces that previously held raw chicken.
- Wash cutting boards, utensils, dishes, and countertops with hot soapy water after preparing chicken and before you prepare the next item.
- If cooking a microwaveable meal that includes frozen raw chicken, handle it as you would fresh raw chicken. Follow cooking directions carefully to prevent food poisoning.
- If you think the chicken you are served at a restaurant or anywhere else is not fully cooked, send it back for more cooking, or when you take it home recook.
- Refrigerate or freeze leftover chicken within 2 hours (or within 1 hour if the food is exposed to temperatures above 90°F, like a hot car or summer picnic).
At RCL safety centre, we provide the best food safety and quality consulting, auditing, and training services. A full-service, international food safety consulting leader, we help organizations manage food safety-related risks, and exceed regulatory and certification requirements while protecting your brand. We have completed food safety projects for several clients. Over the years we have become known as the “hands-on pragmatists.”
for more information visit our website at: www.foodsafety.org.ng or www.safetycentre.org.
lois@safetycentre.org.ng
RCL safety centre.