This Is What Happens When You Accidentally Eat Raw Chicken
This might sound like a familiar story. You have just sat down to enjoy a meal when you take a glance at your chicken, and notice it looks a touch pink in the middle. Whether you cooked it yourself or someone made it for you, your stomach is rumbling with hunger and you make the quick decision to just cut around the pink part. This choice is quickly forgotten about until the noticeable signs of sickness start to occur. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of Campylobacter infection, which can occur if the meat you're eating is contaminated. usually occur two to five days after eating infected meat. Regardless of if you made a hasty choice or if you unknowingly ate raw chicken, here is what to look out for next time.
Making sure poultry has been cooked properly is necessary before consumption. Healthline explains this is because there are microorganisms found in chicken that could potentially make you ill if they are not killed during the cooking process. Unlike beef, it's best not to just eyeball it and assume the bird has been cooked through. Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature instead. If the thermometer measures an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius), then it should be safe to eat (via FoodSafety.gov).
The impossible-to-ignore symptoms
The risk of eating infected meat is higher than we originally had thought. Test results from Consumer Reports share that of 382 whole chickens bought from more than 100 stores in 22 states, two-thirds contained the disease-causing bacteria Salmonella, Campylobacter, or both. Ingesting the bacteria Salmonella can result in food poisoning, typhoid fever, enteric fever, gastroenteritis, and other illnesses, states Healthline. The perhaps lesser known of the two bacterias, Campylobacter, infects the chicken when it comes into contact with animal feces. The most common symptom stemming from ingestion of Campylobacter is bloody diarrhea.
Ingesting undercooked poultry can result in a slew of health issues. Healthline shares the most common symptoms of eating raw chicken are abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and muscle pain. All of these symptoms can be impossible to ignore and are most definitely day-destroyers. Luckily, your infected food-induced misery will most likely pass. Gastroenterologist Gina Sam, M.D., MPH, shares with Women's Health, "Most infections will resolve on their own. Only in rare cases does a patient require treatment with antibiotics."