I was thawing 2 of those bagged frozed chicken breasts in the fridge and when I grabbed them to marinate the just now the plastic bag opened and spiilled chicken juice all over the bottom of my fridge, into the crisper (where my boyfriend stores his soda and beer) and onto the floor. I did my best to clean it all up with a cleaning spray and rinsed stuff that had even possibly touched chicken juice in scalding water. Will that be good enough? Will we die?
It’s not like every peice of chicken carries salmonella, so we should be fine. I hope. I just need someone to tell me so I don’t freaking worry about it.
I think it’s probably safer to assume that it does, although maybe not at population levels that are dangerous.
You washed the outside of sealed bottles and cans in hot (and presumably soapy) water? Those should be fine
Anything that could have absorbed the juices, or that can’t be vigorously washed (lettuce leaves, maybe, or chilled cooked foodstuffs) probably needs to be thrown out. Anything you’re going to fully cook (other raw meats, for example) will be fine.
You’re better off cleaning the spilled areas with a bleach solution; about 1/2 cup of bleach to a gallon of warm water will be a sufficient strength to kill nasties. Bleach is safe to use around food, since it leaves only salt as a residue once it dries. Even without doing that, I wouldn’t worry about it, although if it spilled on exposed food, I’d consider throwing that food out.
Salmonella isn’t present in every chicken (especially when most chickens are vaccinated these days), but campylobacter is commensal in chickens. Campylobacter causes diarrhoea and vomiting, and can be quite serious.
How long do the nasties last? Will an infected can of beer be infected still in a week? Three days? Forever? I’m mostly worried about the cans, and things that will be touched and have the possibility of then transferring to other things, like the crisper drawer.
If you’ve washed them, they’re clean. It’s that simple. Hot soapy water doesn’t necessarily kill food poisoning pathogens, but it will remove them, especially on smooth surfaces such as the outside of a drinks can and especially if you wash, then follow with a rinse under running water. A little bit of scrubbing with a brush around the nooks and crannies of the top and the ring pull is a good idea.
Bacteria can last quite a long time in a dark and moist environment (like a fridge), they won’t necessarily reproduce (it will be too cold) but they won’t die off quickly either.
Dunk everything that was splashed with chicken juice in some hot soapy water, rinse them off with hot clean water and let them air dry. Only put them back in the fridge when they’re absolutely bone dry. Air drying is a very effective way of killing bacteria, they really really don’t like to be dry, towel drying tends to smear the bugs around (and transfer between cloth and other items is likely), and doesn’t completely dry the surface.
You’re obviously better of burning your house and starting anew. Every piece of raw chicken is deadly toxic until it’s been cooked to 500 degrees.
But seriously, why the sudden worries about salmonella? Has it gotten worse?
Secondly, eggs are supposedly in the same boat right? How come nobody mentions it when you get an egg cooked over-easy or soft-boiled? I’ve always wondered about that.
Oh, it’s not a sudden worry about salmonella. It’s latent from childhood, seeing commercials or health class things where the cutting board then the salad are slowly zoomed in on and there’s scary music playing. Plus I’m inclined to worry about anything, if possible.
I think I’m going to let it go for my own sanity. First I just rinsed with hot water, then because Mangetout reminded me of soap, I went back and washed everything with soap. But I didn’t let it dry. So now I have to go back and let everything dry. I’m afraid that if I get anymore advice, however good, I’ll forget to go to work and just spend the rest of the day cleaning my fridge.
Think about it this way - did you wash those cans when you brought them home? Those things could have been swimming in toxic waste on their way from Old Milwaukee to the grocery store.
Been to a restaurant lately? Practically every menu I’ve seen that offers any sort of customer choice (meat doneness, egg style) has a little USDA warning on them about eating undercooked meat, eggs, poultry, and fish. Some of them even give you the “we cook all eggs until the yolk is solid unless you request otherwise” bit.
On edit: of course, you’re in Denmark, which is unlikely to have USDA warnings…
I am now fastidious about cleaning up after animal juice spills after last Thanksgiving. A decent amount of brine spilled from the brining bag when it tipped a little bit as it was being filled the night before. I called my mother-in-law to help clean up and we both spent the next day throwing up. Mind you, this was brine that had been in contact with the turkey, which I had just rinsed, for like a minute and we thought we were careful. Perhaps it was a coincidence but we were the only ones who got sick and the only ones who cleaned up the brine.
