Cook your chicken fingers well, Canada’s food agency warns

Breaded chicken products, like these chicken nuggets, are convenience foods, but you need to make sure they’re well-cooked, and not microwaved, before eating, says Canada’s food inspection agency. (PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS)

If you’re planning to serve up frozen chicken nuggets or some other kind of breaded chicken product, like chicken fingers, make sure you cook them well first.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as the poultry industry, warned Canadians last week about the importance of always fully cooking frozen raw breaded chicken products before eating them.

That’s after a recent outbreak of salmonella in several provinces.

Over the last 10 years the incidence of salmonella illness in Canada has steadily increased. This increase has been driven by salmonella enteritidis, which is often associated with poultry, and is the most common strain of salmonella in the food supply, the CFIA said.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps and vomiting lasting four to seven days.

But some groups, such as young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems may develop serious and sometimes deadly infections.

The long-term consequences can include severe arthritis.

And foods contaminated with salmonella may not look or smell bad, but they can still make you sick.