Washing Meat?
 

I just read a recipe that called for using frozen turkey in a crock pot. Someone commented asking about how to wash the turkey if it is frozen, and that brought up a discussion of whether to wash meat or not. Some people are squarely in the camp of washing poultry and even other meats. I was always told not to wash meat, because it can spread bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses. Why do people wash meat?

I've always been told to wash the surface of poultry and fish, and then pat it dry with a clean paper towel. For poultry, you might also want to rinse inside the body cavity of poultry such as a whole chicken to remove any remaining bits of organs that hopefully were removed when the bird was processed.

I always rinse off meat, to get rid of the layer of whatever-it-is on it from the processing plant.

I do not routinely wash meat. The exception is when I spy a feather or a hair on the surface or in the package. It's been a long time but every once in a while I will be given a package of meat (usually something hunted by a relative) and find a stray hair or purchase chicken and spot a stray pin feather.

I’m with you. There is no need to wash meat that will be subjected to heat that will kill any bacteria.

I certainly wouldn’t wash poultry, on the basis:
1) I’m going to cook it to a safe temperature to kill pathogens
2) I’m only likely to spread said pathogens all over my kitchen, utensils etc. by washing it

That said, I’m conscious in the EU we don’t permit things like chlorine washing of food. If we did, I might be more inclined to wash my meat!

Exactly! I imagine one might give a chlorinated chicken a rinse for the same reason we rinse coffee filters before using them (with a Chemex or V60 for example).

Only meat I rinse periodically is fish. For some dishes I will add salt, leave it for 30 minutes or so then rinse the fish before continuing. I rinse it by dunking and washing it in a bowl, am not spraying germs everywhere that way.

Never wash it, it just gets bacteria all over your kitchen. I pat it dry with a paper towel, and let the heat kill the bacteria.

I don't wash meat or poultry. Like someone mentioned, I do wipe the inside of a whole bird to get out yucky stuff. I do rinse shrimp and scallops.

If cooking kills the bacteria then what's the concern?

I just want to get rid of the ick from the processing plant. That's why I wash.

What? All over your kitchen? What are you doing? Playing with it like a kid splashing in a bathtub?
A thin stream of running cold water over a sink to rinse away the "fecal soup" that chicken and chicken parts are drenched in during slaughter should not get bacteria "all over your kitchen". Heat can kill bacteria, but doesn't kill that "flavor" undertone.

The concern is that washing it spreads the bacteria through your sink, onto your counters, utensils, etc.

The public health message is not to wash meat

Don't bother except if obviously dirty. If you are going to do it, at least do it away from anything else that isn't going to get washed again before use (such as your dish drying rack, your cutting board that you are prepping salad or something that won't be cooked to at least 165F) and wipe down your counters and sink after with soapy water.

CDC link: bullet point #3
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/chicken.html

• Do not wash raw chicken. During washing, chicken juices can spread in the kitchen and contaminate other foods, utensils, and countertops.

Well not in my kitchen it doesn't. But I guess they have to tailor such recommendations to the lowest common denominator.

I don't always wash meat unless I'm going to season it. For example, pork ribs I wash and pat dry, then rub/season them and let sit for a bit before cooking. I don't think washing or not is going to change the world one way or another for most of us. If the only thing saving you from being poisoned is washing the meat I'd question who you are getting your meat from. If not washing the meat is the only thing saving you from contaminating your kitchen I'd question your cooking skills.

Actually filters need to be washed for two reasons that have nothing to do with removing stuff from the surface.

The first is to make sure that the filter adheres to the funnel and the whole system is warmed to the correct temperature; the second is that (especially with V60 which always seemed to me like a proper chemistry experiment) you have to soak the filter so that none of your carefully weighed water is "wasted" in the filter but goes to extract the coffee from the powder.

In a chemistry lab wetting the filters prior to use is common practice, more so when a vacuum system is used in order to have a good seal.

Sure - but I can tell you there is definitely a “paper” taste that disappears after rinsing. Actually tasting the water after filtering might not be something you do in a lab, but it is something I do in my kitchen!

I generally don't bother with butcher bought meat, or supermarket bought meat, but I always wash game birds inside and out before cooking, as well as checking for feathers missed in the plucking, and making a mental note of where the shot might be.

The chlorine is, of course, entirely harmless, otherwise the EU wouldn't permit its use in bagged salads which aren't even going to be cooked. At the risk of straying into bad OMNI, the ban on chlorine washing of chicken was an entirely political move to protect the (principally French) poultry industry.

Perhaps we are saying the same thing, but I believe the main issue with chlorine rinsing is that leads to the (perhaps unintended) consequence that US abattoirs and the entire animal welfare/farm-to-table chain are of a considerably lower sanitary/hygiene standard than that required in the EU. The chlorine takes care of the problem so we don't have to worry about it.

The only meat that I wash is whole turkeys or chicken to make sure that I've gotten all the liver and other organs out. Fortunately, I have an under the counter sink and use a very light water flow so there's not a lot of splashing but I do make sure everything is clear. Once I'm done, I sanitize all surfaces to make sure nothing spreads.

It's not the bacteria on the chicken that's the concern. It's the bacteria that's left in your sink. If you wash meat, scrub out your sink with soap and water immediately afterward. And then of course, while people are cooking, maybe they set a wet or dirty dish in the sink temporarily, then transfer it to a dishwasher or whatever. That's how bacteria spreads.

I'm not some kind of clean freak about bacteria. If there was a benefit to washing the meat, I'd do it. But, scientifically, there's no benefit and only a possible downside. So I don't add an extra step of washing.

I gave one example above of how bacteria can spread. It looks like others have answered your question though too. Personally, I tend to be pretty clean while I cook, so I doubt washing or not would make a huge difference for me, although I don't see the point in doing it. And if you do, you should scrub out your sink afterward, depending how interested you are in food safety...personally I tend to follow food safety procedures a lot more closely when I'm cooking for others than I do when cooking just for myself. :)

Game birds, I can understand rinsing, because of feathers and shot.