Perhaps I am a little late to this party, but then what else is new? I have heard about a trend on social media, and I decided to weigh in on the topic. This trend has people recommending that you should wash your uncooked meat before beginning to prepare it. Wait, what now? According to the April 3 DTN article from this year, “Washing Ground Beef,” there have been multiple videos uploaded of people washing uncooked meat, presumably in the name of safety. The story went on to say that oftentimes the clip showed people putting ground beef in a cheese cloth, and then into a colander and running cold water over it before cooking it. This sounds a little odd to me, but according to the article, one of the videos had over five million views.

So this begs the question, is it a good idea to wash raw meat before cooking? The FDA says no, it is not a good idea. On their website they say, “Washing raw meat prior to cooking makes it more likely for bacteria to spread to areas around the sink and countertops.” It would seem as we try to eliminate cross contamination with other foods, that increasing the level of potentially contaminated liquid roaming around the kitchen would be counterproductive. The USDA has the same recommendation. They say that, “research found that washing or rinsing meat or poultry increases the risk of cross contamination in the kitchen, which can cause foodborne illness.”

Washing and rinsing are largely ineffective for increasing the safety of meat because water alone will not kill the bacteria in question. That is why we use soap to kill the bacteria on our hands when washing them. But, who wants to have a T-bone steak marinated in Dawn dishwashing soap? Not me. The same process that draws seasonings and marinades into your pork chops, will also draw in any soaps you could use to kill bacteria, and thus making the food unfit, or even unsafe for consumption. So whatever shall we do? We shall use the time tested method of cooking meat to a safe temperature. That’s right, the very process of cooking that we were planning to do anyway, is also the most effective way to kill foodborne pathogens.

The USDA recommends that poultry be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe, and that ground beef be cooked to 160 degrees. When cooking whole cuts such as a steak, pork chops, or lamb chops, the USDA considers an internal temperature of 145 degrees to be safe. Now hang on a minute, what if I like a rare steak? Typically because of the muscle density of whole cuts of beef, if bacteria were to be on the steak it would typically be confined to the outer surfaces. But just know that there is no way to guarantee that it is completely safe other than cooking to the appropriate temperature. The reason we should cook ground beef to a higher internal temperature than steak, is because hamburger is ground and mixed meaning if any bacteria happened to be present at the time of processing, they could now be mixed throughout the final product.

For the sake of argument, from the culinary perspective, is there a benefit to rinsing down a slab of chicken before it hits the grill? In an article from parade.com entitled “Should you wash your chicken?” bestselling cookbook author Anna Vocino says, “Many people do so because they think it’s safer to rinse chicken to get rid of the bacteria or germs. However, the heat from the oven kills off any germs or bacteria, so there’s no need for it.” Dane Blom, executive chef at Grange Restaurant & Bar in Sacramento says in the same story, “Not only is rinsing chicken not necessary, but it can spread harmful bacteria if it splatters on the counter or sink…” Perhaps this has cleared up some misconceptions around meat preparation, or perhaps you have always been a rinser and will always continue to be one. Nonetheless, as spring is finally starting to appear and you’re getting ready to dust off the ol barbeque grill, just remember a little cleanliness goes a long way. Always start with clean hands, utensils, and countertops. Keep raw meats separate and away from other ingredients and produce. Things like knives and other utensils, plates and platters, pots and pans, and countertops need to be washed down with warm soapy water following exposure to raw meats. And remember for your own safety, absolutely never under any circumstances put ketchup on a steak. After all cattle producers just braved a winter of historical proportions, so please, enjoy your steaks responsibly.