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Tag: Chicken

Cooking Chicken Wings Safely

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Chicken WingsChicken wings are very popular. But Salmonella has been the spoiler due to improper cooking. Many cooks do not use a food thermometer or just use visual clues for doneness. The recommended internal temperature for all poultry products is 165°F.

A validation study, conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and published in the Journal of Food Science, was designed to determine the thermal lethality of Salmonella on fresh chicken wings cooked in a conventional convection oven and in an air fryer, two popular dry heat cooking methods. The goal was to validate cooking times and temperatures to guide consumers in safely cooking chicken wings.

Chicken wings were inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of Salmonella, then cooked in each appliance for 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 22, or 25 minutes and at actual temperatures of 288.5°F-298.2°F in the convection oven and 340.7°F-364.5°F in the air fryer. In the end, all cooking times below 22 minutes still tested positive for Salmonella. Recipe sources can benefit with using this information to guide consumers to safely cook chicken wings.

 

Improving Chicken Meat Quality

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
Just a reminder! Always use a thermometer to check doneness of all poultry. Look for 165°F.

Have you had a piece of chicken breast meat that was tough and chewy? This is a disorder called wooden breast syndrome that occurs in broiler chickens. The pectoral muscles, or breast meat, becomes tough and chewy. This syndrome can cause an economic toll on poultry producers.

When you look at a piece of chicken breast meat, you cannot see the problem. But, once the meat is cooked, the defect is noticeable. Researchers at the University of Delaware have possibly discovered the reason and a solution to reduce the problem.

In broilers, if they abnormally metabolize fat in the pectoral muscles, the syndrome develops. Ideally, the broilers should be metabolizing glucose instead of lipids. Therefore, the broiler has a higher amount of free radicals that damage pectoral muscles. By testing their blood for the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, they can identify the problem early for better management.

This is step forward in solving a difficult issue for poultry producers. Learn more at www.ift.org/iftnext/2020/june/solving-the-mystery-of-wooden-breast-syndrome.

Cook Chicken Liver Like it’s Chicken!

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Numerous outbreaks of illness associated with chicken liver have occurred. Most of these outbreaks were caused by the bacteria Campylobacter and Salmonella and were linked to chicken liver dishes that were:

  • Pâté or a similar blended dish (e.g. mousse, spread, or butter);
  • Inadequately cooked; and
  • Prepared in a restaurant or other foodservice setting.

Inadequately cooked chicken liver is risky because pathogens can exist both on the external surface of the liver and in its internal parts. Chicken liver dishes should be consumed only after being cooked throughout to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165°F (73.9°C). Additionally, chicken liver should be handled carefully to prevent cross-contamination.

www.fsis.usda.gov/ChickenLiver

 

Is Your Chicken Chewy?

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

If you’ve had a tough, chewy chicken breast, it may not be how you cooked it. That toughness could be from a condition called “woody breast.”

This condition has unknown causes. It makes the meat tough to cut or chew; it resists uptake of marinade; and has a high cook loss of moisture.

Speculation is that this condition is related to fast growing chicken broilers. While unpleasant to eat tough chicken, there are no food safety risks with this condition.

Source: Poultry Science, Poultry Science 2016

 

Reference to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation. Paid for by Kansas State University