Stop Washing That Chicken

(NBC News) Should you rinse raw poultry? Advice over the years has been conflicting.

Even cooking legends Julia Child and Jacques Pepin disagreed, but a new study from the Department of Agriculture has a definitive answer: Don’t do it!

“The sink could be a source of cross contamination,” warns the USDA’s Dr. Mindy Brashears.

Using test kitchens, the USDA observed test subjects cooking chicken thighs, then preparing a salad.

When they washed the chicken, 26 percent transferred bacteria to the ready-to-eat lettuce.

Most didn’t attempt to clean the sink in between, and even when they did 14 percent still were contaminated.