Health Update — Don’t Wash Raw Chicken

To all Health Experts:

Make up your mind!

Thanks,

The Public

So, now it turns out we are NOT supposed to wash raw chicken. Here's the 'official' (for now) word on washing your chicken.

Here's the latest from the wishy-washy (pun intended) folks in the Telling the Public What's Bad for Us This Week Department.

A new study conducted by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the United Kingdom found that 44 percent of people wash chicken before cooking it. But now they are telling us that washing raw chicken may lead to the spread of campylobacter bacteria, which is sort of a fancy name for food poisoning.

How do you know if you have campylobacteriosis?Well, be prepared for such delights as such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, and fever. But wait, there's more good news.

Campylobacter can also be a precursor to other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, reactive arthritis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating disease of the nervous system.

So, until they changes their minds again, as disgusting as it may sound, when you take that dead bird out of the nasty plastic bag, don't wash it. Just cook it and then try not to think about the fact that you didn't wash it.

Enjoy your meal.