To ask if you clean your meat?

[Cleopatois]

I use lemon and water or white vinegar and water to clean all my meat.

A colleague said she didn't just through it from pack to pan :O

Her reasoning was 'its free range so that means it clean'.

Another colleague said it is a culture thing. What do you do?

it's true though!

And before this thread I had no idea 'scientists' said don't wash meat.

I have washed meat my whole life as has my mum, grandma, aunts, uncles, my whole family and my whole bloody village in fact.

Were are all still going strong.

What about those stats? I'm not trying to minimise your point but er I dunno, maybe I'm trying to give you a bit of context!

Slubber, that should be. My iPad insists on you being slobber, sorry.

And of course it has everything to do with cultural differences....

HAVE YOU BOUGHT MEAT FROM A MARKET?????

And to think I clicked on this thread thinking it was going to be a euphemism.

It's exceeded all my expectations.

MrsSteptoe me too and oddly as a non meat washer the thread title is more squirm making than any activity which might have been covered euphemistically. I just can't picture washing a nice joint of lamb!

The vinegar thing - I remember my mum telling me that if the mince was beginning to go off a bit and had that "ripe" smell - slosh some vinegar on, soak for a few minutes, drain and rinse, then cook. It definitely works - though as what you're doing is removing the smell and taste of decomposition, I'm not sure it's to be recommended. (Obviously it won't kill any bacteria - the few times I've done this, I've boiled the mince to buggery afterwards.)

Those who think industrially produced meat is clean - have a read of Eric Slosser's Fast Food Nation. You'll definitely think twice about mince. (Though it's obvious, if you think about where E coli/campylobacter et al actually live...)

I still don't wash my meat, mind.

I hate to introduce actual facts into this thread but I have worked in an abboitoir and in a meat packaging plant as an Environmental Health Officer. I specialized in food poisoning. Abbatoirs are a million times cleaner than they used to be but they are far from spotless.

....and I wash my meat if I can but I don't much worry about it if I can't. I wash it mainly to wash off bits of foriegn matter, such as bits of bone or hair, that may be on the meat. If done with a little care then there is no reason at all that you should end up 'contaminating' your sink and work surfaces.

Thorough cooking is the most important thing to do to kill harmful bacteria especially with chicken or minced meats.

Episode, YES I HAVE BOUGHT MEAT FROM A MARKET (why are we shouting btw, it's quite unnecessary). dh bought meat from a market yesterday and cooked it today, no meat washing occurred. In fact I have not washed meat my whole life as has my mum, grandma, aunts, uncles, my whole family, I cannot comment on the whole bloody village though.
We are all still going strong too.

Can you see that that sort of anecdotal evidence does not add anything to the evidence regarding food poisoning?

Here is the fact sheet from the WHO regarding campylobacter infection.
Main point of note is
To prevent Campylobacter infections, make sure to follow basic food hygiene practices when preparing food.

Here is the link to the NHS how to prepare and cook food safely website.
"Raw meat, including poultry, can contain harmful bacteria that can spread easily to anything it touches. This includes other food, worktops, tables, chopping boards and knives.
"Lots of people think they should wash raw chicken, but there's no need," says food hygiene expert Adam Hardgrave. "Any germs on it will be killed if you cook it thoroughly. In fact, if you do wash chicken you could splash germs on to the sink, worktop, dishes or anything else nearby."

MamaPain, my first link from the FSA states "Campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK. It is considered to be responsible for around 460,000 cases of food poisoning, 22,000 hospitalisations and 110 deaths each year and most of these cases come from poultry."

ToBeSure, if I could see visible bits of bone or hair on my meat, I would probably just pick them off rather than wash them off.

My friend who washes her meat always suffers from dodgy stomach. I never wash meat, or anything else really and I don't ever recall being ill through eating anything. Proof enough for me :)

I do not wash meat. Occasionally I will get some kitchen paper and dab it dry especially pork - the rind only to make sure it is nice and dry so it crackles.

I buy my meat and fish from a market. This time of year I guess there is no need for them to refrigerate though the fishmonger always uses ice and there are electrical sockets in the ground all year round.

There are local food shops I wouldn't visit though. I have observed their hygiene and don't think it's very good. Washing stuff in vinegar wouldn't help with their stuff, which I think is substandard, or the other butcher's stuff, which I think is perfect.

That's not to say that I object to personal preference which is what cultural practices are, aren't they?

What I object to is someone suggesting that their personal preference is superior to someone else's.

Particularly when it is in such a loaded area as food preparation or food laws or food hygiene.

Do whatever makes you happy. But don't suggest that if other people behave differently they are dirty.

I think that's what the OP did. And that's what I didn't like.

My friend's ex-MIL cooked her turkey in the biggest roasting dish she had. It was only ever used once a year for the turkey. The rest of the year, it served as a cat basket for their aged and incontinent cat - and no, she didn't wash it first or even rinsed it, just gave it a quick shake and wipe because "cooking will kill the germs".
I'm afraid I can't tell you whether or not the turkey was washed - everyone was so revolted they didn't notice. I'm inclined to doubt it.

The same woman had a flypaper over the kitchen table that was never changed until it was full.

You may vomit now... :)

I always wash meat in cold water and lemon and I boil mince before using it ( just see what comes off of it - fat and brown sludge).

This is very cultural for me and my family and I notice many English people don't do this.

Limited I think the OPs comments are open to interpretation. You did accuse me of excusing her comments which was not at all true, I was actually saying that I think her and my DH were off the same background as her beliefs are similar.

Now from what I remember, you like me, are a fan of bread pudding (I'm sure it's you who has the mum with the special pan ), thing is when I first explained to my DH that it used stale bread, he was disgusted, said it was really filthy would surely make us all ill and that it shall never pass his lips. Of course he's now the biggest fiend for bread pudding and gobbles it up no problem. I had assumed the OPs comments were in the same vein, not nasty, more shocked.

I may be totally wrong and she was being very inflammatory, but then I think some of the comments to meat washers have been incredibly rude. I suppose advice against meat washing for many is like advice against eating raw eggs; it makes sense but we're still all eating the cake batter.

But Verity, once you pre-boil the fat and juices away what's left in the mince?
Surely it can only taste of wood shavings after that treatment.

Episode, why on earth is 'scientists' in quote marks? They're scientists. They do this stuff for a living. Your family is an anecdote.

If you wash your meat under running water, no matter how slow the water is there'll be droplets outside the sink. People have done tests on the splash patterns.

If people wash it with vinegar or other dilute acids, such as like juice, they're curing it. Does fuck all to any bacteria present, but it will change the taste. So if that's the only way you've experienced, that's what you think meat tastes like. It's not, it's what oxidised meat tastes like. Fine if you like it, but don't kid yourself that there's any hygiene benefit to it.

There's actual data on this stuff, folks. It's not exactly challenging to test whether weak acids do anything to eliminate 'germs'.

For me, the idea of people washing their meat makes my stomach churn. Disgusting.

Worth noting, for the point of the sample, that I'm neither English, nor British, nor born anywhere near these fair isles.

MamaPain I'd be distraught if I couldn't eat cake batter. The OP started off neutrally but then went on about meat being dirty and blood being disgusting (which is a pretty dim thing for a meat eater to say), how shocked she was and so on, so I think she got people's backs up.

I hope I wasn't rude, but like Jassy the thought of washing meat is far more revolting than slinging it in the pan, and that's not because of any spatter issues (I'd not even thought of that) but it just seems so weird.

Gosh what an inflamed post!

My family and the majority of the world are anecdotal evidence are we? Does that not go against any sort of worthwhile statistic production? Perspective love! Most of the world do this and are still alive.

Obviously most of the world finds the slime and gunk disgusting which is why they wash meat as do I. I have not said anybody that does not is wrong all I have said is I do and the as you say not so anecdotal evidence shows me its no biggie.

Why is this so hard to fathom?

Seriously, calm down!

@Jassey

MamaPain You don't know how much it means to me that you remember my post about my mother's special bread pudding tin. Thank you.

I initially found the OP's comments interesting and then bristled about them because I find it tactless for anyone of any background to say they find their cultural experience superior to anyone else's.

And that's what I felt she did.

We are all different, aren't we?

Sadly I can't pass that bread pudding recipe on to you or her superb bubble and squeak. It's gone to her grave.

Good post Jassy

Episodeif you are referring to my last post, I think you should take your own advice and calm down.

This is a really pointless thread, wash you meat or don't wash your meat, it really doesn't matter.