Why Andrew Zimmern Thinks You Shouldn't Always Be Scared Of Pink Chicken

On his Travel Channel show, "Bizarre Foods," Andrew Zimmern certainly ate his share of weird stuff. Often going right to the edge, Zimmern would even eat certain poisonous foods, figuring that the people who prep them also eat them, so they must be relatively safe. That said, there are still some foods that even Andrew Zimmern can't stomach, some surprising and some completely understandable. But one food that Zimmern says doesn't deserve the blanket ban is pink chicken.

On a Facebook post Zimmern received a question from a follower: "Can you eat chicken that's pink?" The chef and TV personality responds, "In short, yes. High-quality chicken has a greater potential to appear pink, especially with really fresh chicken like the kind you would find at a farmers market. It's more important to pay attention to the temperature rather than the color." Zimmern goes on to say that the fresh chicken he gets from his local farmers markets around Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota tends to have veins in the dark meat, so there can be a "dark line" when you bite into it, and even the white meat cooks up pink. This is probably due to hemoglobin in the muscle reacting with oxygen, giving it a pinkish hue, or it could be pigment released from the bone marrow that colors the tissue clinging to the bones. It can be especially true of young chickens that have more permeable skin and bones.

For starters, you need a raw chicken that's fresh. The flesh should be bright, shiny, and pink. If it's at all gray or dull in color, it's probably past its prime. If it smells sour or anything close to (there's no better way to say it) funky, you shouldn't eat it. If the exterior is sticky, tacky, or slimy, throw it out. And once you're sure you have a fresh chicken, you just have to worry about the internal cook temperature.

According to the USDA, the best temperature for a perfectly cooked chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Get a fresh raw chicken to 165 degrees, and it's safe to eat, no matter the color. Zimmern says in the video that everyone overcooks their chicken, but not him. "My white meat, when it goes to 150 [degrees Fahrenheit], 155, I stop. It'll rise in temperature [after removing it from heat], but I don't want to dry it out," he explains. This is a solid technique, provided you make sure it ultimately does get up to 165 degrees before eating.

Part of the reason we're so afraid of pink chicken has to do with "food anxiety." After hearing dozens of reports of salmonella outbreaks and other bacteria associated with undercooked chicken, we've been programmed to fear chicken that's even just a little pink. To make sure you get to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, you'll need to insert a meat thermometer into the center of the thickest part of the meat. In a whole chicken, that's the center of the breast. If it's at 165, you're good to go.