Eating raw chicken is a fowl idea, and processed chicken isn't washed in bleach | Fact check

Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Eating raw chicken is safe, and store-bought chicken is washed in bleach

A Dec. 5 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a man with a raw piece of chicken in one hand and a lemon wedge in the other. He declares that it is “day eight” of eating raw meat every day, then takes a bite and chews it.

“Raw chicken is the raw meat that people fear the most, yet it’s the raw meat that tastes the best,” he says. “The issue with store-bought chicken is they wash it in bleach or citric acid.”

The Instagram post was liked more than 6,000 times in two weeks.

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Our rating: False

Experts unanimously warn against eating raw chicken: it is dangerous to consume because of a high risk of foodborne illness from bacteria. Poultry producers do not use bleach as a cleaning agent.

Dangers of raw chicken include food poisoning, death

Martin Bucknavage, a food safety specialist in Penn State’s Department of Food Science, told USA TODAY the Instagram video is dangerous. The juice of the lemon shown in the video wouldn’t eliminate the pathogenic bacteria that may be present in the chicken, he said.

“There are pathogenic bacteria that are naturally associated with poultry, including salmonella and Campylobacter," he said. "The only adequate way for consumers to eliminate these pathogens in order to make it safe to eat is to cook it to the proper temperature."

Consuming raw chicken is dangerous because it can be contaminated with bacteria, including Campylobacter, salmonella and E. coli, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Agriculture.

Eating raw chicken, or foods and beverages that are contaminated by the juices of raw chicken, can lead to food poisoning, the Cleveland Clinic states. The symptoms of food poisoning include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and dehydration.

Food poisoning from raw chicken can also lead to more serious outcomes like irritable bowel syndrome, reactive arthritis or blood poisoning. Salmonella can also lead to death, as was the case during one outbreak linked to Kosher chicken in 2018, The New York Times reported.

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And contrary to the video's claim, bleach is not among the chemicals used on packaged chicken. In June, the Department of Agriculture published a full list of chemicals used in antimicrobial systems for poultry. The list includes solutions of citric acid, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide and more – but bleach isn’t mentioned anywhere.

Bucknavage said the approved chemicals are used at sufficiently low concentrations.

“There are a variety of chemical treatments that are approved, and some of these are chlorine-based,” he said. “But this is not the same as dousing it with full-strength Clorox. These washing treatments, while not eliminating all pathogenic bacteria, do reduce the risk that can occur when handling the raw bird in the kitchen.”

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Raw chicken is dangerous, must be cooked to eat safely | Fact check