To ask if you wash your meat?

[over2021]

No, not another penis beaker!

Today two colleagues in another department were talking about their dinner and it came up that they both wash their meat with a mix of lemon, water and salt before cooking it.

AIBU or is that not the norm? Or have I been feeding my friends and family dirty meat my entire adult life?!

Caribbean friends and family do this. It's cultural.

My MIL does it.

She lives in a country where meat would be sold hung up in dusty places, exposed to the possibility of flies.

She still does it even though her meat now comes from a supermarket or chiller cabinet if some kind.

However, there would be no possibility of her splashing over cups or glassware etc as everything is dried and put away instantly it is washed. (Also in case flies land on them) and the whole sink area is scrubbed with Ajax after any food prep.

No.

No as it's no longer necessary or desirable in my opinion.
Didn't realise it was because I had a " low hygiene bar." Thanks for that helpful contribution.👍

Never. Also a couple of years ago people who did wash chicken were asked to stop, as it spreads bacteria in the kitchen.

@sashh - I know in some cases it is cultural. I was replying to a poster who insists that anyone who doesn't wash meat has a low hygiene bar, which is a load of absolute rubbish.

If you don’t care about grime or scum, then why ask where it has been that it needs washing? I imagine that it’s a similar place to where your hands have been after you use the toilet? Somewhere where there are germs, I presume?

Seriously, do you not think that the heat used in cooking the chicken would kill any germs? There really is no need to wash chicken. Google it and see what the answer is. It would seem that most people don't wash meat - why do those who do think they are so superior?

Kindly refrain from putting in the category of whoever you’re referring to when using the term ’they’ because I certainly do not think that I am some kind of superior being just because I wash my meat. Of all things for one to feel superior about 😂

As for cooking the chicken, of course that kills the germs. But considering the amount of different pairs of hands that have touched that chicken, from the slaughterhouse to the shelf in the supermarket, it is my preference to wash it. Certainly not a need.

Maybe people are not understanding "washing meat "
A bowl of water with lemon or vinegar soak your meat in it.
Not sloshing it around under a running tap.
Yes I wash my 🍖

What are you washing off and why does it matter when it's going to be cooked?

Obviously anyone can do what they choose, but I try to handle meat as little as possible, to avoid cross contamination, so washing "unecessarily" is something I'd avoid

Why would I?

knew someone who washed eggs before boiling them, though.

Did anyone else grow up steeping their leafy veg in salted water?
Unsurprisingly nothing lives on,modern veg so it's redundant now.

This made me laugh 😂

Just leaving this here...

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I do that if there's chicken poo on. Then, if the shell cracks while boiling, I'm still happy to eat them. Illogical, as I'm sure there's bacteria either way, but seeing it makes me feel queasy.

I wash meat from the market because it has visible dirt quite often. Gritty meat isn't nice. Supermarket meat I don't wash. I cannot see that carefully tipping meat water down the sink is more of a contamination issue me washing the meat chopping board after...

I wash joints of meat in salt water before cooking, but not mince though.

Of course you wash meat.

Just do it without splashing water all over your kitchen

It’s cultural. Things have moved on but people do this “because it’s what we do in my culture”. I understand this. It’s not the most hygienic practice but equally, one must be mindful of cultural norms. Plus non meat washers may not be hygienic either.
These threads in general do make me not want to eat in other peoples homes though!

Yep this lol

@pedropony76
@Whatsmyname100

But there is literally no point in washing it - and definitely potential harm 🤷‍♀️

@CorsicaDreaming there’s minimal harm in washing meat especially when done correctly. It also doesn’t make sense to season unwashed meat….

@pedropony76

See the section under Washing meat

www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/cleaning

Basically you should not wash raw meat.

Even the US CDC say consumers should not wash raw meat and they spray it with chlorine solution in the US food industry

www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foods-linked-illness.html

@CorsicaDreaming gov.uk tells me that I should get vaccinated too. Doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and do it, does it?

All Caribbean and Africans wash their meat in lime /lemon and salt... But weirdly when I make and Caribbean dish I adhere to the same principles
Uk here I don't do that for any other food eg, roast chicken or any European or Asian dish 🤷🏼‍♀️