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?

Is this a sex question?

If not, no, I do not clean meat. That would be weird and I'm sure I read it actually increases the risk of contamination as most of the bugs are killed by cooking (so washing is unnecessary), washing raw meat splashes unseen contamination around the sink area and increases risk of food poisoning in the home. Yeuch

No ouryve it doesn't taste of vinegar or lime etc. You rinse it off!

Yes I have a large bowl which is specifically what I use to wash and season my meat.

Does that mean you don't roast chickens whole then op if you don't like 'the slimy bit'

I will admit to having washed chickens but that was a production line of about sixteen of them a time having just plucked and gutted them. The place was then bleached.

I don't wash meat, fish or fruit or veg and I'm a picture of health. If I'm cooking beef or salmon, I'll cut slivers of raw meat/fish off and eat them.

I always wash fish, to try and get rid of any of the antibiotic residue in the ice that it's kept on, and the sliminess that it develops. Can't bear slimy.
I also wash turkey steaks for similar reasons (don't do chicken).
Don't wash red meat as a rule, though.
White English person here, but I do have a degree in Food Science and that maybe makes me a little more wary...

You bleach your sink , it takes five minutes. I have never had food poisoning.

Off to text a couple of Jamaican friends to see if they do it.

My IL's (not English) do this, they often soak meat in water and vinegar or wine before cooking, it starts the cooking process and in the case of very bloody meats like lamb changes the flavour somewhat. Not quite the same as a marinade but similar.

I do sometimes wash chickens and similar when they come of the the packaging, they look a bit slimey, same with fish. I do take care not to splash the meat/water everywhere for hygiene purposes.

If I make a whole chicken I still wash the outside and inside.

I used to. I dont anymore. Figured that everything is so clean nowadays that I dont need to.
Am willing to be persuaded or proved that I am wrong though.

I really dont get washing meat. What does it achieve? I cant see it makes it any cleaner unless you believe that bacteria would only be on the outside surface of meat (which of course it wouldnt be). And why would you be bothered about washing blood off? There's blood inside the flesh of the meat too.

Cote It is part of the Caribbean culture to clean meat thoroughly before cooking. My dm and every family member/friend does this.

We also marinate our meat for several hours or even overnight so the flavour sinks in.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/Foodhygiene.asp

No we never wash meat, it's not recommended anymore. My MIL does though, it always gives me the heebie jeebies thinking of all the microscopic salmonella ridden water droplets being sprayed all over the kitchen when she sticks a chicken under the tap. We are all English so maybe it's a generation thing too?

Yes some meats I do, fish I rinse and some bacon if it's got a lot of salty liquid in the packet. Also a whole chicken I some sometimes rinse off. Always wash all fruit n veg

I've worked as a restaurant manager for many years and have numerous food hygiene certificates and whatever else.

If you wash meat you're at risk of spreading bacteria around your work surfaces and kitchen. Meat is packaged in a protective environment to a high standard of food hygiene. Also when you cook the meat you are more or less guaranteed to kill anything bacteria wise that might be left. You really, really shouldn't wash meat. Totally unnecessary and quite frankly dangerous. We'd never do it at work.

Fruit and vegetables need washing carefully. They are regularly sprayed with pesticides and even though washed before sold to the shop they are often put out loose and handled by lots of people who may or may not have washed their hands!

In a professional kitchen we are told to wash salad with a special anti bacterial solution as the leaves in lettuce can really harbour pesticides and other grot that can make you very ill indeed.

The only food poisoning I have ever had was from lettuce I had at home which my dh didn't wash. I have never been so ill in my life.

Lemon will begin to cook the meat, so you really shouldn't do that unless the recipe calls for it... I'm not sure about vinegar but it may have a similar effect.

I wash blood clots off my meat but try not to have it dripping wet.

Never ever heard of anyone doing this before!

To all meat washers, what are you afraid of happening if you consumed meat that was not washed prior to cooking? And do you still eat meat when you go out for dinner where it is againd FS regulations?

Hopping I would be surprised if they don't.

My family are Irish and none of them wash meat.

Why would you wash blood off of meat when there's so much blood in the meat??

As others have said, cooking properly means it's unnecessary.

Nope, cooking meat kills off bacteria. Can't for the life of me see what good washing it first world do, unless it was fresh from a farm and had so.e feathers, etc stuck to it.

That's good enough for me Fairylea!

I suppose that people traditionally washed meat to get rid of feathers etc Not sure why some people still do it though as it must spread bacteria everywhere.

I regularly skin and bone out chicken and it is not slimy. Bought from supermarkets, butchers, farmers markets, not slimy, not dirty. There is some sort of connective tissue between the skin and the flesh but that is in no way dirty or germ ridden, it's been sealed up inside a chicken, if it had germs in it so would the rest of the flesh and they would not be removed with a quick rinse. I'm not English, thanks, I'm Scottish, but that is another issue .

I don't use bleach in the kitchen, ever, because I hate the smell. I can't recall ever having food poisoning (am 50+) and my children in their 29 years of life have had one bout of D&V between them. My mother was a cooking teacher and definitely never washed meat.

Worra also there's the issue of black pudding too! :)