Chicken is one of the most popular foods of the time. Both adults and children’s love different chicken recipes. It’s highly nutritious and very tasty too. But at the same time, it’s very popular for food poisoning too. Actually what is leading to food poisoning in chicken???

The most important causative organism for chicken food poisoning is bacteria and the two most commonly found bacteria leading to food poisoning in chicken are

• Campylobacter
• Salmonella

These bacteria lives in the intestine of the poultry and shed through their feces into the food chain. They can also reach humans when the bird is been slaughtered.

So if you eat undercooked chicken or foods contaminated with raw chicken you may get food borne illness which is nothing but food poisoning.

Tips to prevent Chicken Food Poisoning

1. Always wash hands thoroughly with soap for a minimum 20 seconds before and after handling raw chicken
2. While you buy chicken from a retail store, make sure it is kept in a separate bag away from other foods
3. Do not use same chopping boards for cutting raw chicken and other foods
4. Do not wash chicken because while washing chicken juices may spread the entire washing area and this may lead to cross contamination
5. If you are not using the chicken on the same day, refrigerate below 5⁰C as soon as possible
6. Do not leave the marinated chicken on the countertop for more than 2 hours. The best practice is to keep below 5⁰C
7. While cooking make sure that the internal temperature of the chicken is above 75⁰C
8. Always wash the utensils, knife, preparation area etc., that may come in contact with the raw chicken before preparing any other foods
9. The leftover should be placed in a refrigerator for not more than 3 days and can be used only once by reheating

Symptoms of food poisoning

In most cases the symptoms may occur between 24-48 hours and can last for 4-7 days. These include

• Fever
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Bloody stools
• Dehydration