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Washing a Turkey

Posted: Nov 20, 2014

We got going on a discussion below about Thanksgiving disasters, and the conversation got to washing turkeys before cooking them. This is not a good practice. You can spread more salmonella and other bacteria washing raw poultry. All it does is splatter rawness in the sink, on the faucets, on the counters, on your clothes, etc. Cooking to the proper temperature (165 degrees at the fattest part of the breast) kills anything you are concerned about.;

I just read somewhere that you're not supposed to wash poultry - But I always have

[ In Reply To ..]
I always thought you were supposed to take it out of its supermarket package, rinse it off, and then put it in a freezer bag if you weren't going to use in within 48 hours and a baggie or something in the fridge if you were. I always clean my sink afterward with a kitchen spray or dilute bleach, and I can't see how rinsing something off in the kitchen sink is any different from washing your hands in the bathroom sink after using the toilet. Wouldn't "material" from using the toilet also splatter and send germs all over the bathroom sink? If you didn't clean your bathroom sink, it would be horribly germ ridden. What's different about poultry?

My Take on This - OP

[ In Reply To ..]
I think there is a lot more splatter from flipping a heavy turkey to and fro, than one just washing their hands in the bathroom sink.

To boot, we're talking about the kitchen here where people eat and place utensils on the counter, in the sink, in the dish drain, dry with towels etc. The risk for cross-contamination is pretty high there.

Been rinsing my turkeys off in the kitchen sink for 25 years. - JustMe

[ In Reply To ..]
Mom did before me and her mom did before her. Not one person in the history of Thanksgiving in my family has ever suffered salmonella poisoning because of this practice.

We have a family history of rinsing off all poultry with no problems whatsoever. I honestly think scientists and "experts" just whip the public up into a frenzy about the what ifs and maybes.

I also agree though with the OP that if you cook your turkey to the proper temperature, you've killed anything harmful at that point.

From OP - see msg

[ In Reply To ..]
Since cooking to the proper temperature will kill just about anything that might be going on with the bird, then why go through the trouble of washing it.

I'm not convinced that rinsing the turkey under the faucet kills salmonella, anyway.

I think the whole washing thing started back in the olden days (obviously) when people killed their own poultry and conditions in the pens or yard weren't always sanitary in terms of droppings or whatever else. I think back then it was probably an excellent idea, LOL.

Oh, I don't think rinsing kills salmonella and the honest - JustMe

[ In Reply To ..]
answer from me is I rinse off because that's how mom and grandma did it. Rinse it off, pat it dry, rub it down with butter, spice it up, and into the oven. All I know is it tastes good when it comes out! ;)

The difference - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Microbial spread from flushed toilets and hand washing is an issue, too, with the interior of bathrooms being pretty much covered with poop germs...walls, floors, doors, surfaces. That is why you wash your hands thoroughly before leaving and use a clean paper towel to turn off the tap and open the door.

However, at home, the microbes are mostly your own flora. That isn't such a big concern, unless someone is sick.

Poultry is a different story. That is not our own flora. Now, it isn't even normal poultry flora; it is very likely to be something that makes people very ill like Salmonella or a bad kind of E. coli.

The kitchen habits we used to have aren't safe anymore. Wash that bird and the bacteria splatter all over and floof up into the air, settling all over the kitchen. There have been some studies showing just how far they go.

So, since poultry processors wash birds better nowadays, the recommendation is to skip the washing before cooking.

It isn't clear when we started thinking we had to wash it. Those recommendations started appearing in cookbooks in the 40's and 50's, I think, when folks moved to suburbia.

From OP - see msg

[ In Reply To ..]
My mother and grandmother washed their turkeys, but it doesn't mean it has to be carried down through the generations, just because they did.

I save myself the trouble since it's a useless waste of time and not a healthy practice. I have enough to do on Thanksgiving Day!

I have always washed and will continue to wash turkeys/chicken - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I too have read not to wash them. Then they show some animation overly exaggerating the bacteria getting on everything (even flying all the way across the room) - uh, yeah right.

First, nobody in the my family ever got sick from washing turkeys or chicken and can tell you we've had plenty of them. Just doesn't happen.

Second, I don't rinse it with the water full blast so that it will spray everything in the kitchen, the living room, bedrooms or garage. I use a low stream, I carefully rinse the bird slowly moving my hands slowly so I'm not splashing water all over the place. When finished I put the bird into the tray sitting on the corner of my sink. When finished there are no water splatters anywhere in the kitchen or on my clothes. I wash my hands afterwards, along with the sink and used Clorex wipes for the counter just in case and everyone in my house, my families houses, etc never have gotten sick from this practice.

I think some scientists had nothing to do so made up this fabricated idea that if you rinse your bird everyone in your family is going to get sick because of you washing it like a dolphin flipping his flippers in the ocean spraying everything in sight.

Lastly, I think it is extremely important to wash a bird first. I've seen the way some of these birds are prepared before they get to the store. I watched a video of a worker touching all the body parts of the bird after they are cut up. Touching feces and blood, then touching the birds and wrapping them. There is tons of bacteria that people touch and then touch your bird. I prefer to wash my turkeys and chicken, washing all traces of baceria or possible feces contamination before putting in the oven and having it baked into the bird in which we will eat. Doesn't matter if your heat is so high it kills it. I personally do not like the idea of feces, blood or bacteria baked into the bird.

I have always washed and will continue to wash.

Knock Yourself Out! - From OP

[ In Reply To ..]
I agree that things get exaggerated in the news. I have chosen to save myself some time and effort on T'day by not washing the poultry, and nobody in my house has died, either. And the feet are removed, so no chance of me getting feces from the feet.

Not sure why poultry gets chosen to be washed and not beef. Is it because poultry is still in its whole state?

Sounds to me like people just like to follow tradition.

it is a matter of personal preference - recently certified with ServeSafe

[ In Reply To ..]
In my own home, I wash meat in my sink (that is always cleaned before and after use). In the commercial kitchen, the foods I prepare are rarely raw meat, but those that are raw are commonly thawed out in an appropriate manner in appropriately cleaned sinks, rinsed and dried with disposable paper towels.

I think you are just trying to get some rises out of people and want to be a right fighter.

It is the proper handling and cooking technique that are most important in limiting contamination. If you are washing a raw turkey, don't touch your nose, hair, whatever, during the process. Clean properly afterwards. Place the turkey on a clean sheet tray with clean paper towels to pat it dry.

I will always wash off my turkey in my sink before I brine it and after I brine it (before to rinse off debris in the packing process and afterwards to remove unnecessary residual salt). One of the principles of food safety is to remove foreign objects, and not all foreign objects can be easily seen by just a furtive glance.

Just so you know, I also rinse off all meat I eat including beef, pig and fish products and pat them dry afterwards.

If you want to skip that step, you are more than welcome to do that and I won't be the one saying you are bad for doing that. Don't try to make me feel bad because I am the opposite. To each her own.

I scored a 91 on my ServeSafe test, BTW.

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