Is it OK to consume slightly undercooked chicken breast?

Is it OK to consume slightly undercooked chicken breast?

When we consume unusual foods, most of us feel adventurous and a sense of excitement. Well, look at me, am I not brave to live my life on the edge like this? we say (maybe to ourselves because no one wants to look like a puffed up, self-obsessed doofus even if that is what we really are).

My parents went me to visit relatives and friends in Lebanon when I was around eight or nine years old, and during a picnic just outside Beirut, I ended up eating raw horse flesh.

It tasted good, nothing remarkable, but I felt sick as a dog afterwards, and I’ve never wanted to recreate the experience, but I do have a hankering for sushi.

I’m not sure why I became sick after eating raw horsemeat, or why I can eat sashimi without getting sick, and I’m still wary of eating uncooked or undercooked foods to this day, but what about undercooked chicken breast?

Is It Okay to Eat Slightly Undercooked Chicken Breast?

It is not safe to consume raw chicken breast or raw chicken in general. Chickens are good vectors for infections that are harmful to humans. Certain bacteria, such as Campylobacter and Salmonella, may survive in chickens without causing any harm. But, once inside a person, these germs may cause severe harm, even death.

There’s A Reason We Cook Food!

Several sorts of poisons in food may be deconstructed by heat and rendered harmless. Heat also kills bugs by breaking apart their cell walls and obliterating them, making the food safe to consume.

In brief, we prepare food because harsh experience has taught us over the years that raw food may make us ill in varied degrees of severity, ranging from uncomfortable to stone cold dead, and many of us want to avoid the dead thing while we can.

Yet, since we are human, and so stubborn contrarians by nature, we joyfully eat rare steaks (I dont, actually, thank you very much; I still fear bovine spongivorous encephalopathy, or BSE, better known as mad cow disease).

We scoop mouthfuls from poke bowls, sashimi, sushi, tartar, or beef carpaccio with reckless enthusiasm, all the while knowing in the back of our thoughts that we were taking a risk by eating raw food. But only when it comes to chicken do we care.

When most adults see raw or undercooked chicken, they pull up short and gaze at the meal with intense distrust. Something, I’m not sure what, tells us intuitively that this sort of uncooked food is a no-no.

Children do not seem to have this built-in warning system, but somewhere north of the teen years, an old wisdom appears to develop in man’s breast, and we just know not to meddle with raw or undercooked chicken. But is this dread justified?

What Can Go Wrong If You Lose Your Bet with Undercooked Chicken

If you take a chance and load your face with uncooked chicken, you can end up as right as rain. There is no hard and fast rule that says eating undercooked chicken is always harmful for you; you could get away with it.

On the other hand, if you bet poorly, you may get food sickness. Symptoms and symptoms might range from minor stomach discomfort (fine, no worries) through nausea (less fine, but still OK), diarrhea (not so fine, still fine), coma, hospitalization, and death (definitely not okay, not okay at all).

The symptoms described above are caused by bacteria with intriguing and terrible names like E. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, and listeria. To be able to say, “I survived the big salmonella epidemic of 20-whatever,” or “Yes, I was in Emergency with campylobacter, but I beat the rap,” must be rather glamorous.

The problem is that with more deadly diseases like salmonella, E. coli, and listeria, there is no assurance that you, I, or anybody will escape with our lives. Individuals do die as a result of these illnesses.

Escherichia coli, a.k.a. E. Coli

Not all strains of E. coli are dangerous. Those who are, on the other hand, might be rather testy, producing severe stomach discomfort, cramps, and, finally, death. E. coli causes illness by producing toxins that kill red blood cells in the human body. As you may expect, the body responds adversely to such care, and we ultimately develop renal failure.

Thankfully, properly boiling food kills E. coli, keeping the bacteria from entering the human body and wreaking havoc.

Campylobacter

This bacterium produces an illness known as campylobacteriosis, which is quite a mouthful (almost as much as the mouthful of undercooked chicken you stuffed in your maw to cause you this disease, ha-ha). Fortunately, although very uncomfortable, campylobacteriosis is not lethal, even when severe.

You’ll have diarrhea, stomach discomfort, cramps, vomiting, and fever for a few days, but you’ll get better and hopefully wiser by the experience.

Surprisingly, this bacterium thrives in the stomachs of chickens, inflicting no harm to the host animal. It seems to become contentious and troublesome only when it enters human intestines.

Salmonella

Salmonella, unlike campylobacteriosis, may live a calm and undisturbed existence in our gut. Salmonella does not worry us, and we do not bother it, as long as the bug does not enter our circulation.

Yet, once in our circulation, the bacteria goes on a rampage, attacking our bones and joints in particular. Death may happen on rare instances. (The CDC estimates that this agent kills roughly 400 people each year, so it isn’t exactly a population thinner.)

Listeria

This is the granddaddy of them all, the bacteria you should avoid at all costs. In the United States, about 200 out of every 1,000 cases of listeria result in mortality.

This terrible little insect causes meningitis and encephalopathy, which is an inflammation of the lining of the brain. In pregnant women, the illness may assault the baby, inflicting enormous damage and even spontaneous termination.

Listeriosis is basically an assault on the host’s nervous system and is an unusual addition to the list of undercooked chicken dangers since we may get infected by eating unwashed fruits and vegetables and even swallowing contaminated dairy products.

Frequently Asked Questions to Is It Ok to Eat Slightly Undercooked Chicken Breast?

Afterword: Is It Okay to Eat Slightly Undercooked Chicken Breast?

Eating undercooked chicken, whether breast or otherwise, is absolutely, fully, completely, utterly, and completely unacceptable.

Consume only well-cooked chicken, and only well-cooked chicken. Run like Usain Bolt from raw chicken breast or any other raw chicken portion.