Chickensplash: splash trial videos

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends against washing raw
chicken due to the risk of transferring dangerous food-borne pathogens
through splashed drops of water. Many cooks continue to wash raw chicken
despite this warning, however, and there is a lack of scientific research
assessing the extent of microbial transmission in splashed
droplets.  Here we use large agar plates to confirm that bacteria
can be transferred from the surface of raw chicken through splashing. We
also identify and create a phylogenetic tree of the bacteria present on
the chicken and the bacteria transferred during splashing. While no
food-borne pathogens were identified, we note that organisms in the same
genera as pathogens were transferred from the chicken surface through
these droplets. Additionally, we show that faucet height, flow type, and
surface stiffness play a role in splash height and distance. Using
high-speed imaging to explore splashing causes, we find that increasing
faucet height leads to a flow instability that can increase splashing.
Further, splashing from soft materials such as chicken can create a divot
in the surface, leading to splashing under flow conditions that would not
splash on a curved, hard surface. Thus, we conclude that washing raw
chicken does risk pathogen transfer and cross-contamination through
droplet ejection, and that changing washing conditions can increase or
decrease the risk of splashing.