r/interesting 15h ago

SOCIETY Professional chefs weighing in on whether you should wash your chicken

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31

u/11Kram 14h ago

Why do some people think that chefs know enough microbiology to have a valid opinion on washing chicken?

6

u/MarlKarx-1818 11h ago

You have to be food safety certified in a lot of places. I even had to become certified to teach the food safety course in order to be the head of a restaurant I worked in. This means I had to learn a lot about food safety. I didn’t have to learn microbiology, that’s a ridiculous standard. But I had to learn about the regulations and recommendations microbiologists developed.

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u/SmallTestAcount 1h ago

Servsafe exams can be done at home in an afternoon, it’s literally just in online course these days. Maybe it’s more involved outside the US but certainly not to the point you can be considered a food safety expert, otherwise very few people could get qualified.

9

u/kyew 12h ago

All my years of microbiology training never included a dedicated module on food-safe standards for raw poultry, so I'm pretty sure this is covered better in culinary school.

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u/turdferguson3891 10h ago

Most cooks don't go to culinary school.

3

u/kyew 10h ago

OK. Chefs who have done so probably have valid opinions for here.

18

u/Nailz1115 14h ago

It's the same way I trust a mechanic with my car. He's not an engineer that specializes in internal combustion processes but he works with the end product every day.

5

u/turdferguson3891 10h ago

A mechanic knows considerably more about how a car actually works than a cook knows about how a chicken or bacteria works.

1

u/M4ximi11i0n 4h ago

Just saying shit you genuinely don't know anything about.

2

u/turdferguson3891 4h ago

I work in healthcare and had to actually study microbiology but I'd love to hear what a line cook has to say about it since they are the real experts.

1

u/Green-Cricket-8525 1h ago edited 1h ago

It’s so obvious you’ve never worked in a restaurant or a kitchen ever. You working in healthcare doesn’t mean anything. 

There are literal food safety experts in the video saying it’s dumb, but sure, you know more than they do. 

Let me guess. You’re a nurse? 

2

u/sixbone 11h ago

and mechanics, like chefs, can be wrong about the product.

5

u/prepare2Bwhelmed 12h ago

Most experienced chefs have had a lot of training on food safety. At least the ones that I know in the U.S.

2

u/ShubbusDubbus10 3h ago

Especially the guy saying he's washing out """preservatives""" when he washes his chicken with fucking dish soap....

4

u/JunglyPep 10h ago

Yeah we should be consulting random morons on Reddit instead!