(Cathy Kearney/ CBC News) — From Master Chef Julia Child, to the kitchen bible The Joy of Cooking, home cooks have been told for decades to rinse the inside and outside of Christmas turkeys before putting them in the oven.
Proponents of turkey rinsing apparently did so to wash away any imagined germs and bacteria. But it turns out, rinsing was was doing the exact opposite.
It may come as a surprise — even tough to swallow for some — that recent Health Canada guidelines say rinsing the beloved bird can splash and spread bacteria from the raw turkey juices to other foods, hands, clothes, work surfaces and cooking equipment.
The University of Wisconsin, citing a European study, wrote that bacteria can travel up to a metre away from where your meat is rinsed. (…)