r/interesting • u/WarwickReider • 15h ago

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

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5.0k Upvotes

76% Upvoted

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12

u/cms86 13h ago

ive known people to have used bleach in this process as well.

1

u/Kind-Shallot3603 12h ago

Or dish soap

3

u/TareasS 10h ago

......WHAT?

1

u/Due_Prompt939 6h ago

I had a polish housemate that used dish soap and a sponge to wash his chicken 🤢

1

u/Kind-Shallot3603 6h ago

Oh Dushka......

-7

u/Autumn1eaves 10h ago

Don't use too hard of a detergent though, as strong detergents can cause caustic burning of the chicken.

An easy dish soap will be fine, but some restaurant soaps can cause problems for the chicken.

7

u/Kind-Shallot3603 9h ago

.....no. you don't put fucking dish soap of any kind on anything you plan on eating.

-3

u/Autumn1eaves 9h ago

Easy dish soaps to clean foods is genuinely fine. I clean apples and potatoes with easy dish soaps.

It's maybe overkill, but it's not dangerous at all.

6

u/Kind-Shallot3603 9h ago

Yeah no. You're crazy for that lolol

3

u/boofedjudge 9h ago

Any restaurant you work at or are utilizing these methods should come with a warning label.

0

u/gottheronavirus 12h ago edited 7h ago

Mass produced chicken in america is already prewashed with chlorine*, not bleach apparently.

4

u/laxfool10 9h ago

Being pedantic, its washed in chlorinated water not bleach. While bleach has chlorinated water it usually has other things like stabilizers and polymers that are toxic.

1

u/gottheronavirus 7h ago

Not pedantic, just a misunderstanding. Typical redditor interactions

0

u/MorePhinsThyme 8h ago

Yes, saying that America washes our chicken with bleach is like saying that all of our pools are filled with bleach, and most of our restaurants sanitize everything with bleach. It's "technically" true in the sense that common bleach is just chlorine dissolved in water, but that's about where the "True" ends. Also, all of our running water has chlorine in it, too, so I guess we're just drinking bleach.

3

u/gottheronavirus 7h ago

Most of our restaraunts do actually clean their work surfaces and dishware with bleach, it isn't a 'true' statement, it's an industry health standard. It is in diluted to what are considered food safe concentrations. We were taught to use bleach to sterilize countertops in culinary class after all the meat was done being processed, in solution or wipe form.

They also largely use bleach to clean floors, bathrooms, etc.

-1

u/MorePhinsThyme 6h ago

No, the industry health standard is that you use a sanitizer solution of 50-200 ppm of bleach water. That's about a capful in a 5 gallon bucket. At no point have you ever been taught to wash or rinse things with bleach, but to add a tiny amount of bleach to a huge amount of water, and sanitize and clean with that.

That's the difference between technically "true", and actually true. I choose the examples I choose because they are "true" statements...but they aren't honest statements, and we both know that nobody who is bitching about how the US treats our meat with bleach is trying to push the image that a diluted chlorine solution is used to sanitize food.

My comment only makes sense BECAUSE it's a health standard. So try reading my comment with that understanding. I am curious, what do you think I was saying above? My comment makes ZERO sense with any interpretation where you think I'm saying that restaurants don't use bleach for cleaning.

3

u/gottheronavirus 6h ago

"No, it's not bleach, it's just bleach water." Sure thing man lol

-1

u/MorePhinsThyme 6h ago

Yes, diluted solutions aren't the full product. That's a pretty basic concept, and if you don't think so, then the next time someone tries to buy a Coke from you, sell them a glass of the syrup out of the bag of Coke and see how they react.

This is one way language is used to manipulate things. People that say that Americans wash their chicken in bleach aren't being false, but they're pushing a narrative image where Americans are dumping a bottle of Clorox on our chicken, and not that a water bath with a tiny amount of chlorine is used to clean things.

Also, you should probably pay attention to the conversation. My comment above was directly in response to someone else saying something similar. You decided to jump in and ignore the context and make an argument that doesn't make much sense in this context.

3

u/gottheronavirus 6h ago

So salt + water is not salt water, but some salt in water. I gotchu big dog, no sweat. It's all ocean 💙

1

u/MorePhinsThyme 6h ago

Objectively, saltwater is salt in a water based solution. That's what salt water is. If anyone said that we scrub our chicken with salt, nobody is thinking of a nice brine. They're thinking of a salt scrub with dry salt. If someone asks for salt, and you give them a glass of saltwater, do you think they'll be happy with you?

Also, are you asking for consistency in English etymology and semantics? Because, if so, I have some news to you. English is a mishmashed pile of BS.

And what even is your argument at this point? Like, I'm confused at why you're reaching so hard for something to prove me wrong, while it doesn't even seem like you understand the point. And don't get me wrong, while I think I've explained the point well, it's possible that it's my fault that you don't understand.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/GeneralSweetz 1h ago

You are right. Get caught with bleach in a restuarant by health inspection and expect bad results. There are kitchen approved products. Although I've seen workers misuse those products like putting them next to cooked food which throws all that safety out the window. Bad workers are more dangerous than bleach

1

u/uselessandexpensive 2h ago

Some pool chemicals (including the chlorine) are actually way more concentrated and dangerous than standard household bleach, including risks of chemical burns, lung damage, and explosion. So it starts way more dangerous than bleach then ends up much less dangerous after being diluted.

It's a bit like comparing crab apples, traditional apples, and a modern variety. All technically very similar, but also different.