Don’t Eat Raw Or Undercooked Poultry

An online fascination with eating raw meats may not be a great idea.

Putnam County Extension Agent Michelle Parrot said it’s particularly a bad idea to consume raw or undercooked chicken.

“That is one thing that we have very strict guidelines on for food safety and that’s eating raw or undercooked poultry or poultry products no matter what that is,” Parrot said.

Recipes online call it chicken sashimi, or chicken tartare … sometimes it’s eaten raw or lightly seared. Pictures and recipes have been making the rounds online, but there’s a big potential for food poisoning, Parrot said.

“And that’s why cooking that chicken to 165 degrees is so important because you never want to ingest bacteria like campylobacter or salmonella which would then cause you to get food poisoning,” Parrot said.

Anyone can get food poisoning, Parrot said, particularly the very young and senior citizens.