Washing the carcass

[Looking4ewes]

What sort of soap do you use, if any? I just butcher a bird and made an oops on the backend, resulting in some fecal matter contamination. What to do? Can I eat the bird, if washed an cooked properly?

 

[CMV]

I use a tiny dribble of bleach in my rinse water. I never feel like the birds are clean enough unless I send them through the bleach water and then rinse them off well with clear water. I have well water so there's no chlorine in my water.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I just rinse them real well in plain water and make sure I cook them well. Accidents happen, but you can help reduce the problem by keeping food away from them for a day before you butcher them. Don't let them have access to any bedding, dirt, anything they can possibly eat. That cleans the system out where this is not as big a problem. Whether I have an accident or not, I still wash the pieces in clean water and cook it well.

A lot of city or county water is not chlorinated any more. They sometimes use other methods to kill the microbes in it. And even if they still use chlorine, they aerate it so most of the chlorine has evaporated away before they put it in the pipeline system. There is not enough chlorine left in the water to kill anything. It's clean, but don't count on that water as an antiseptic.

 

[mike67909]

Soak them in salt water for little while. Alot of bacteria can't survive in the salty environment and will dehydrate and die.

 

[schmism]

Quote:
this is going to varry widely depending on area. The water district that supplys our "city" water runs VERY high chlorine. Especially in the summer, a glass of water will smell like pool water as you bring it up to your face to drink. Ive tested my faucet water at 6+ PPM chlorine, but usually runs about 4ppm. (same as a pool)

Proper cooking and cleanup/handwashing AFTER handling raw poultry is the BEST way to avoid problems.

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
it has to be some REALLLLLY salty water for it to kill the bacteria

 

[turtlebird]

Quote:
it has to be some REALLLLLY salty water for it to kill the bacteria

Would a brine constitute REALLLLy salty water? I know this isn't why we brine, just wondering.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
This is the key.

I don't put soap or bleach on my carcass. If I brine it is for flavor/texture. Accidents will happen. Rinse thoroughly and handle correctly; that's enough.

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

refrigerating/freezing the bird properly, and defrosting and then cooking to the proper internal temps will prevent bacteria and food borne illness. Bacteria need specific environments to grow and thrive, temperature extremes usually take care of them. Proper hand sanitation and sanitation of work area/utensils will be sufficient for preventing ingestion of anything from the uncooked bird to you. Hot water and antibacterial soap, then hot water rinse, then chlorine(bleach) cold water rinse, is reccomended by the food handling course i took for chopping blocks, work surfaces, knives, etc. In regards to fecal contaminants, your concerns I imagine would be more parasitic than bacterial, and once again, proper cleaning methods and correct meat storage temps should avoid any problems and keep you from waisting the bird.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
this is going to varry widely depending on area. The water district that supplys our "city" water runs VERY high chlorine. Especially in the summer, a glass of water will smell like pool water as you bring it up to your face to drink. Ive tested my faucet water at 6+ PPM chlorine, but usually runs about 4ppm. (same as a pool)

Yeah I've smelled chlorine in water too some places. Dr. Cannella, the water treatment professor for some courses I took many decades ago, also had a consulting business on the side so he had practical experience as well as theoretical. He said that kind of problem could be a design or equipment problem, but it was usually the operator. The amount of chlorine to disinfect water can vary from 5 ppm to 50, depending on how badly the original water is contaminated. You should be able to easily smell 5 ppm. A properly designed and run treatment plant should air out the treated water to where you cannot smell it. I checked the EPA standards. The way I read it, anything above 4 ppm is above the legal limits. I think if you test above 4 ppm, you are certainly within your rights to question your water authority and if you are not happy with the answer, find out which state agency regulates them and talk to them.

Proper cooking and cleanup/handwashing AFTER handling raw poultry is the BEST way to avoid problems.

Proper refrigeration of the meat is also very important. Cool it down as soon as you can to keep the bacteria from growing. Some bacteria is always going to be present, whether you have an accident when processing the chicken or not. It's usually the concentration of bacteria that can cause a problem so keep the contamination down as much as you can and handle it in a way to prevent the bacteria from multiplying. Keep yourself, your work area, and the meat as clean as reasonable, handle and store it properly, and cook it properly and you will be OK. Any food can be a risk if it is not handled right, meat, eggs or even vegetables from an organic garden.