Frozen chicken cooked in air fryer, microwave can cause food poisoning: CDC study

Frozen chicken products need to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe to eat.

Hyderabad: Every era has its own style of cooking. If our forefathers cooked using burning wood, our grandparents used traditional chulhas. Most of us today are moving towards electrical appliances like electric stoves, microwaves, air fryers, and others. And with each era, the whole business of cooking food was made easier.

While things are easier and quicker today, studies about the harm these electric appliances cause us are also coming to light. A recent study by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more people are falling sick from food poisoning after eating frozen chicken cooked in appliances other than an oven.

“More than one half of respondents to an Internet panel survey reported using an appliance other than an oven to cook frozen stuffed chicken products; 29% used a microwave,” the study read. Now what is the problem if one uses a microwave or air fryer, you may ask.

Most of these appliances do not have the wattage required to cook the chicken properly till it’s edible. As most frozen chicken comes with some or the other kind of breading or stuffing, the heat given by these appliances just work on the breading and leave the chicken uncooked.

Frozen chicken products need to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe to eat. So they should be cooked in a conventional oven if possible, the CDC says.

The problem of raw and uncooked chicken has been there for a long time. Responding to that, manufacturers have updated food labels to identify the specifications of the products so that consumers can be wary of uncooked chicken which causes illnesses. However, that didn’t solve the entire problem.

CDC now calls on companies to consider implementing interventions that rely less on labeling and consumer preparation practices to ensure safety.