Here at Crooked Cabin Farm, we frequently have people telling us that they don’t eat red meat - they stick to the “safe” stuff - like chicken. We chuckle, shake our heads, and tell folks about a study called “The Effectiveness of Hygiene Procedures for Prevention of Cross-Contamination from Chicken Carcasses in the Domestic Kitchen”. Never heard of it? Well let me tell you about it…
Researchers visited 60 homes, gave each family a raw chicken and asked them to cook it. After the bird was cooked, researchers returned to find bacteria from chicken feces - Salmonella and Campylobacter,. both serious human pathogens - all over the families’ kitchens: on the cutting board, utensils, cupboard, the refrigerator handle, the oven handle, the doorknob and so on.
Obviously, people didn’t know what they were doing , so the researchers then repeated the experiment, but this time gave the family specific instructions. After they cooked the chicken, the subjects were told to wash these surfaces with hot water and detergent, specifically the cutting board, utensils, cupboard, handles and knobs. Yet, the researchers still found pathogenic fecal bacteria all over.
Reading the study, you could tell the researchers were getting a bit exasperated. Finally, they insisted that the subjects use bleach. The dishcloth used to clean was to first be immersed in bleach disinfectant, and then the subjects were to spray a bleach solution on all surfaces and let it sit for 5 minutes. However, the researchers returned to still find Salmonella and Campylobacter on some utensils, a dishcloth, the counter around the sink, and the cupboards. The contamination was less… but it was there nevertheless.
It seems that the only was to avoid ingesting fecal bacteria from chicken - is to not bring chickens into the kitchen in the first place. And because fecal bacteria is only a small part of the problems, we suggest that you leave chickens in the field eating bugs, ticks, fleas and other nuisances. Chickens - they make great pets but lousy meals!