Can you wash chicken before cooking? David's act at BBB24 raises debate

When preparing lunch at BBB24, Davi washed the chicken in the sink before cooking it — a common habit among most Brazilians. But did you know that this practice is not recommended and can lead to contamination of the kitchen environment with bacteria?

According to Stefan Cunha Ujvari, infectious disease specialist at Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz, explained to CNN, The risk of contamination exists because the intestines of the animals we eat are inhabited by bacteria that can cause diseases in humans.

The most common example is the Salmonellabacteria that can cause diarrhea and vomiting and, in more serious cases, typhoid fever.

Washing chicken, or any other type of meat, before cooking is not recommended, as water does not kill bacteria and can spread them throughout the environment, contaminating nearby dishes, for example.

Because of this, the infectious disease specialist points out that it is also not recommended to use the same knife or the same board on which the chicken was cut to cut other foods, as they could also end up contaminated.

So how to clean chicken?

The best possible way to kill bacteria that may be on chicken is to cook the meat thoroughly.

“If you have meat that is potentially contaminated, because when [o animal] When it goes to the slaughterhouse, intestinal bacteria can contaminate the meat, there is no need to wash it, because the cooking temperature will destroy the bacteria”, explained the infectious disease specialist.

According to Ujvari, washing meat before cooking only increases the chance of contaminating the environment or other foods.

It is for this same reason that it is also not recommended to eat raw meat — especially chicken and pork, animals in which bacteria tend to be more common.

Even so, the infectious disease specialist points out that there is a risk of contamination by bacteria in any recipe that involves raw or undercooked meat (regardless of whether the meat is pork, beef, poultry or fish). And that the risk is present even in the consumption of raw eggs. It is the cooking temperature that certainly destroys bacteria.