NBC晚间新闻 鸡肉根本不需要清洗（在线收听）

You may not have to wash that chicken after all

鸡肉根本不需要清洗

Do you wash your chicken before you prepare it? A new study says rinsing it off actually may do more harm than good. NBC’s Kerry Sanders reports.

准备鸡肉的时候你洗不洗？新的研究表明清洗鸡肉有害而无利。NBC的Kerry Sanders报道。

We are back with our health news store I tonight, and as we mentioned, let's be honest here, it's very likely that a whole lot of people just aren't going to believe it when they hear that this new research says washing a chicken, just rinsing it off before you prepare it and cook it, may actually do more harm than good. We get the story tonight from NBC's Kerry Sanders .

reporter: The average American eats 81 pounds of chicken a year, and as mom always told you before cooking wash the chicken. Even Julia Child said it was a must.

Run the water right through it inside and out.

reporter: But now a study by Drexel University says that's a huge mistake.

I mean, I've done this for 43 years.

reporter: As an animation created by Drexel shows, water splatters up to 2.3 feet from the spigot, and those droplets carry with them bacteria like salmonella.

There are about a million salmonella illnesses and about 378 deaths from salmonella per year.

reporter: The number one protection, say experts, make sure chicken is thoroughly cooked, and tonight a warning from the government that changes to the poultry inspection process could put food safety in jeopardy. Currently up to four USDA inspectors monitor 140 chickens a minute, but under an industry-supported proposal there would be only one government inspector , and the line speed could increase up to 175 birds a minute. Already the USDA has been testing these changes, but in a report released today the GAO writes faster line speeds raise concerns about food safety .

I think that they are putting speed over safety.

reporter: The USDA says the new inspection system will reduce the risk of foodborne illness. No washing, new advice that may be hard to swallow in countless American kitchens. Kerry Sanders, NBC News, FT. Lauderdale.