Chicken nuggets. Buffalo wings. Chicken Maryland. Chicken and waffles. Orange chicken. Chicken parmigiana.

With all kinds of incredible chicken dishes on the menu, it’s no wonder that it’s the US’s favorite meat. But have you ever wondered why – no matter what cut of chicken you’re consuming – it always has to be cooked through?

Think about it: chicken breast, chicken wings, chicken thighs.

If there’s one thing we’ve all been taught since we were kids, it’s the importance of making sure that our chicken is properly cooked. But is this really important?

Other types of meat can be served from raw to well done; in fact, some people think the bloodier the steak the better. So what is the problem with rare chicken?

Well, it turns out a lot.

According to the Centre for Disease Control, one of the best things that you can do when it comes to cooking your food, is to make sure that your chicken is thoroughly cooked all the way through.

This is because unlike other meats like beef, raw or undercooked chicken can be really dangerous. In a food safety article, the CDC estimate that one in every 25 packs of chicken on supermarket shelves is contaminated with germs that could cause you to become seriously ill.

These include campylobacter, salmonella, and clostridium perfringens. All of these scary-sounding germs could be living in your chicken.

The good news? Cooking your meat properly will kill off all of these bacteria, leaving your chicken completely safe for you to eat, even if it was contaminated before.

However, if your chicken is undercooked, it could cause you to get a foodborne illness. Also known as food poisoning, this can lead to many unpleasant symptoms, including stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills, and aching muscles.

So, you don’t want to be one of the 1 million people across the US who contracts food poisoning from their chicken every year, the CDC offers the following advice:

“If chicken is on your menu, follow these tips when shopping, cooking, and eating out to help prevent food poisoning.

• Use a food thermometer to make sure chicken is cooked to a safe internal temperature of 165°F.
• Keep raw chicken and its juices away from ready-to-eat foods, like salads or food that is already cooked.
• Raw chicken is ready to cook and doesn’t need to be washed first.”

But it’s not just about how you cook your chicken: how you store it also matters. For example, if your raw chicken in the refrigerator is dripping its juices onto the freshly-made salad you’ve stored below it, that could lead to you becoming ill too.

So, according to the CDC, it’s important to wrap your chicken securely and store it on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator.

In the supermarket, keep it in the bottom of your shopping cart.

When you prep your chicken, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before and after handling the chicken.

Use a separate cutting board, knives and utensils for your raw chicken, and wash them thoroughly afterwards.

And pay no attention to your grandmother’s advice about washing your chicken before you prep it.

This doesn’t help get rid of the bacteria, which can be inside the chicken products, and will be killed through the cooking process anyway.

Instead, all it succeeds in is splashing potentially germ-ridden chicken juices all around your skin and kitchen, ready for you to unknowingly pick them up on your hands.

And never, under any circumstances, eat raw chicken.

Even if you don’t think it looks gross (it does), the aftermath of the experience will make you regret it.

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