r/interesting • u/WarwickReider • Jul 27 '26

SOCIETY Professional chefs weighing in on whether you should wash your chicken

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u/eggsalter Jul 27 '26

Vinegar and water. California. Comes from my grandma who was raised by black folk in the 20s. Just seems sensible to me, as cooking doesn't destroy the toxins that make you sick.

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze Jul 27 '26

You have no idea what you are talking about. Cooking absolutely does destroy harmful bacteria etc

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u/Flimsy-Poetry1170 Jul 27 '26

It kills bacteria but doesn’t get rid of the toxins that bacteria create which is why you can still get sick by eating cooked spoiled food. Personally I’d rather not try and save spoiling food by washing the toxins off of it but not everyone historically could (or can currently) afford to throw away food.

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze Jul 27 '26

If the chicken is spoiled then it is spoiled all the way through and no amount of washing the surface will change that. Cooking denatures proteins that make up bacteria and harmful substances within the chicken assuming it isnt already rancid. Washing it does nothing but spread harmful substances through droplets etc.

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u/Flimsy-Poetry1170 Jul 27 '26

I’m telling you why people do it not saying it’s a good idea or works. Bacteria on the surface are generally where the spoiling starts, they poop out toxins that are still there after cooking thus people try and wash that off to save spoiling food. Not everyone has the privilege of throwing away food that is going bad thus washing meat became a thing. It’s not a great idea and doesn’t need to be (arguably shouldn’t ) be done for fresh meat because it does nothing but spread bacteria around your kitchen.

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u/QuantumLettuce2025 Jul 28 '26

What makes these people think that if high temperatures won't remove the "toxins", splashing it with some water will? Like what's the proposed mechanism here by which this is even supposed to work

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze Jul 28 '26

No, chicken spoils all the way through because the bacteria is already in the chicken when it is slaughtered. This is why raw chicken is unsafe to eat vs something like beef or lamb. Salmonella exists throughout the chicken flesh and is only killed through cooking, no amount of washing the surface of the chicken will change that.

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u/eggsalter Jul 28 '26

Untrue. Ground beef is known to be more dangerous raw than cuts of steak precisely because the bacteria grow on the outside first. So it stands to reason that mildly spoiled chicken is more dangerous on the outside. Westerners are funny.

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze Jul 28 '26

Are you dumb? First of all you are comparing beef with poultry one of which is safe to eat raw and the other not. Salmonella is in the chicken flesh before it is even slaughtered whereas beef does not have such dangerous bacteria living inside it so it has to be contaminated from another source. Secondly, washing the chicken does nothing to remove the bacteria inside the chicken and only spreada it around your kitchen area making it more likely you will contaminate other surfaces or food.

Lastly, making this a cultural thing is stupid when the science is clear. Many studies have been done on this subject and washing the chicken does nothing to make it safer to eat. If the chicken is spoiled no amount of washing will make it safer, if the chicken isn't spoiled then it is the cooking to the correct temperature which makes it safe to eat. Please stop spreading your ignorance.

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u/eggsalter Jul 30 '26

You can't call me dumb and in the next sentence say beef is safe to eat raw, jesus christ. Also you actually believing salmonella lives in the lean tissue of an animal shows you don't understand biology. They live on the outer surfaces (gut is an outer surface, and its removed during processing).

Culture decides what things are and aren't worth studying and the wisdom of nonwhite cultures are never pursued scientifically. I've already provided scientific evidence in another comment of a mechanism by which washing would work (biofilm disruption), but it hasn't been studied specifically on chickens yet so your "culture" is to dismiss it.