Removing the skin from raw chicken can help reduce your risk of campylobacteriosis. Photo: Pexels
Freezing raw chicken and removing its skin are two simple ways to avoid contracting a nasty stomach bug, an expert says.
Massey University professor of food safety and microbiology Steve Flint told Nights that chicken was riskier than other meats because of campylobacter.
The bacteria lives in a chicken's gastrointestinal tract and can contaminate the meat when the animal is slaughtered and dressed.
Campylobacter is the most commonly reported cause of foodborne illness in New Zealand and can be deadly.
About four in every five cases are caused by poultry.
Freezing chicken could significantly reduce any campylobacter bacteria present in the meat, Flint said.
Removing the skin also removed some of the risk.
"The skin is something that's readily contaminated - the campylobacter actually lock on to the skin surface very readily."
Another way to reduce the risk of food poisoning was to buy a whole chicken in a bag, to avoid bacteria transferring to hands, utensils and kitchen surfaces, he said.
"It's very hard for a lot of people to avoid cross-contamination with other food.
"Simple packaging - a sealed pack where you can just put the package with the chicken in the oven - has been great in terms of food safety."
Chicken should always be cooked until it was no longer pink, Flint said.
"The safest thing to assume is that if there is pink meat there, there is a risk."
Cooked meat should be refrigerated as soon as practical and always within a couple of hours, and should only be stored in the fridge for a maximum of three days.
