The internet is feeling a little sick after seeing a woman prepare a recipe using chicken she canned two years ago.
Some TikTok users were mortified when mom of eight, Pam Parish, shared her easy-to-make chicken salad recipe with her followers. The clip has been viewed more than ten million times. The highlight of the video was Parish’s big talk moment when she explained that the chicken had been canned in March 2020.
Americans consume chicken more than any other meat, according to the CDC. The meat carries risks, although it is healthier compared to eating other red meats.
Certain bacteria, such as campylobacter, salmonella, and clostridium perfringens, can contaminate raw or undercooked meat, leading to foodborne illness known as food poisoning.
As a result of eating contaminated poultry, the CDC estimates that approximately 1 million people in the US get sick each year.
You can watch Parish break the seal on her jar of chicken before grabbing and removing a chicken thigh. The chicken appears pink on one side.
Much of the meat Parish takes out of the pot appears undercooked and has a tuna-like quality. She doesn’t like the skin. However, she gives it to her dog and says that the pooch “loves it.”
Some social media viewers weren’t so sure about using the chicken. MyNameIsAries commented, “This ruined my night,” with Melissa Ramnarine adding, “this gives me chills, no way am I eating that.”
Beth.hxnt said, “This is why you don’t eat at other people’s houses,” while hakunahataka wondered, “Is this a late April Fool’s Day joke?” Mason Blake, meanwhile, stated, “I feel sick,” while Brahmitzvah admitted, “I literally couldn’t see this.”
Many viewers loved what they saw, Shelbsleeann said, “This is literally 10,000 times healthier than store-bought canned chicken.” Doodoo.fart42069 agreed, noting, “I don’t know why so many have problems canning and pickling my family does it with almost everything.”
NotSweetland was won over by writing, “I was crazy until I used my brain and googled…chicken can last up to 3-5 years at room temperature depending on the preparation.”
Still, some like Jessica8516 were left torn. “Logically, my brain knows the food is safe because of the storage method,” she explained. “But my brain is also 8,000% shocked (I’m sorry!!).”
Eager to clarify things, Parish returned to TikTok in a series of videos to allay some concerns.
“A lot of the comments are a misunderstanding of what ‘canned’ is,” she explained. “I grew up in a family that hunted for meat. We were pretty poor growing up. We didn’t have a lot of freezer space, so you preserved the meat so it could be kept.”
A type of food that can be safely stored at room temperature in a sealed container is called shelf-stable or environmental food.
Parish said some of the responses didn’t surprise her. “I get it. It disgusts me when I see someone eating shrimp. This isn’t for everyone. Not everyone understands it, but it’s a way of preserving food and it lasts for years,” she says.
The cooking mother also rejected any suggestion that the chicken was raw. She explained that it was cooked for three hours and “is pink because it was the chicken thigh”. All of her pots are sanitized in an oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes, while the chicken is also cooked for another 10 minutes after being removed from the pot.
Chicken can stay fresh in a jar for five years when closed. She said her dog Oreo loved the skin and that he “eats almost everything, really.” Her cat finished the rest.
Parish has always enjoyed canned meats, she added. It saves her money and offers a healthy alternative to something like a frozen pizza if the family wants a quick meal.
Water bath canning was “highly controversial,” Parish admitted, though she added that it had “always” been done that way in her family. “Canning in water baths is absolutely safe with meat, and has been done all my life,” she said.
Jill Winger, the founder of The Prairie Homestead, a website designed to help people learn how to grow and manage their food, contradicts Parish’s advice.
Winger told readers not to use a bath water bottle for canning chicken. “Chicken is a low-acid food, which is unsafe to keep in a water bath can,” she wrote. “You MUST use a pressure can for canning chicken.”
The official CDC advisory agrees with Winger, stating, “Don’t use a boiling water bottle for low-acid foods because it won’t protect against botulism.”
Parish added that she recently purchased a pressure vessel and plans to use it in the future in response to concerns about her methods.
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