FOOD NEWS
Frozen Chicken In Air Fryer Elevates Salmonella Risk
By Meaghan Cameron
While air fryers can cook food in half the time of a regular oven, there could be some safety issues with air fryers, especially when cooking frozen chicken.
The CDC released the results of a survey showing that people using appliances other than ovens to cook some frozen chicken products could be at risk of contracting salmonella.
The survey highlighted partially cooked frozen stuffed chicken products, such as chicken stuffed with broccoli and cheese or chicken cordon bleu, as a significant problem.
The survey asked over 4,000 people what they used to cook these products, and more than half responded that they often used an air fryer, microwave, or toaster oven.
However, the packaging for stuffed chicken products doesn't include guidelines for dishes not cooked with an oven, leading to possibly undercooked items from other appliances.
Depending on the manufacturer, air fryers have different cooking abilities, leading to varied cooking times and potentially undercooked food that doesn't reach a safe temperature.
The risk may be higher with an air fryer instead of a microwave because the outside of the air-fried chicken could brown significantly before the interior reaches a safe temperature.
While most products now have labels warning users about microwave use, air fryers are not mentioned, and the CDC identified this as a part of the problem.