Food Safety Advice

Johns Hopkins nutritionist Lora Brown Wilder explains how to keep bacteria from poultry or meat out of your kitchen.

Q. I recently heard that you should not wash poultry or meat before cooking it. Why is this?

A. It’s because: (a) cooking the meat or poultry thoroughly will kill any bacteria, and (b) rinsing meat and poultry can splash bacteria onto dishware, utensils, and other foods.

Always cook meats and poultry at recommended temperatures to kill bacteria and use a meat thermometer to ensure that the meat is cooked all the way through. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends a safe internal cooking temperature of 160 degrees F for ground beef, pork, veal, and lamb, and 145 degrees F for steak and roasts. Chicken breasts and whole birds should be cooked to 165 degrees F.

Follow these other tips for safe meat and poultry preparation:

• Store raw meat, poultry, and seafood at the bottom of the refrigerator so their juices don’t drip onto other foods.
• Defrost and marinate meat, poultry, and seafood in the refrigerator -- never on the kitchen counter.
• Use different cutting boards and plates for raw meat, poultry, and seafood vs. produce, ready-to-eat, and cooked foods.
• Wash all utensils and cutting boards in hot, soapy water after you prepare each food item.
• Refrigerate leftovers promptly after eating.
Wash your hands frequently before, during, and after cooking.