Washing your Meat?

Washing your Meat?

To Do or Not To Do: Pre-Wash Meat

We all know by now that raw meat may carry bacteria that is harmful to humans, and we need to try our best to mitigate cross-contamination, bacteria growth, and keep food within food safe temperatures. You may have heard another strategy to reduce the risk of bacteria: pre-rinsing meat. Pre-rinsing your meat under running water to remove the external bacteria may seem like an intuitive move, but it’s not. Studies show that rinsing meat such as chicken, steak or fish can splash water droplets containing bacteria of raw meat all over your work surface. These splashes of water do not reach a high enough temperature to kill active bacteria, which means when you put your hands, tea towel, utensils or fresh food on the bench where the water splashed, you’re transferring that bacteria there. Everywhere. Plus, we suggest patting meat dry for a better crust or crumb, and definitely not putting it in the pan soaking wet. 

The best thing you can do to reduce the risk of getting sick is control as much as you can. Reduce the amount of time that the raw meat is out of the package before it is transferred to its cooking vessel. If you’re cutting it or pre-seasoning it, use a specific chopping board and knife and wash it immediately in hot soapy water, reducing splashing as much as possible. Under no circumstances is it necessary or indeed recommended to wash meat.

If this is obviously such a bad idea, how did the trend start? For many, pre-rinsing meat is a cultural practice. Cultures who have eaten meat for centuries began the practice after slaughtering the animal and having to remove the fur, feathers, blood, guts and other nasties that were stuck to the meat. Even in the modern era where we buy our meat from butcher shops and supermarkets nice and clean, many people carry on this cultural tradition. 

If it is important to you and you feel the need to rinse your meat, ensure you’re putting the meat low in the sink, using a slow and gentle water pressure and thoroughly cleaning your work station after doing so with bacteria killing soap. Just know that it is not recommended and is indeed warned against in terms of health and food safety. 

Whatever you do, we suggest patting dry your meat before putting it on the pan or in the oven, to develop a delicious crust like the mailard reaction on these chuck roast chunks in our recipe of the fortnight.