Chicken. It’s one of the several foods that can cause a lot of harm to people if not cooked thoroughly. In fact, the internal temperature of chicken should be a minimum of 74°C, otherwise somebody could become extremely ill as a result of eating raw or not thoroughly cooked chicken.
Most people who have any type of experience in the kitchen already know this, but what they fail to realize is that in preparing a meal that contains chicken, there could be some of the juices or ‘slime’ from the chicken that gets spilled onto the countertop.
Using a cutting board, preferably a wooden cutting board, is an ideal situation for helping to reduce the risk of spreading bacteria and other diseases from poultry, but even that can’t completely prevent chicken juice or other substances from getting spilled onto the countertop.
If the countertop is granite or marble, it can certainly look great, but it’s also porous. That means liquid can become absorbed deeper into the pores of these stone surfaces. That makes it exceedingly difficult to thoroughly clean those countertops.
If anything is left behind, bacteria can fester on the surface. Even though the countertop looks clean and everything smells fine, setting a glass down on the countertop while pouring water into it, for example, can help to transfer the bacteria onto that glass and then to other parts of the house.
When that happens, other surfaces become contaminated as well. Bacteria, as it moves throughout the house, increases the risk of spreading to other people. Some bacteria can survive for 24 to 48 hours without a host. That’s plenty of time for people to become ill, all from an innocent mistake.
It’s important to make sure all countertops are cleaned thoroughly after preparing a meal, whether it’s pork, poultry, fish, beef, or any other type of protein. Using the right cleaning materials and solutions is key to helping you maintain a happy and healthy home.
