If you’re into the food side of TikTok, you’ve seen tasty viral dishes in your feed like baked feta pasta and salmon rice bowls, but sometimes dangerous food trends find their way to TikTok, too. Some present major food safety hazards and others can actually be dangerous to your health. Food safety experts and dietitians say these are the risky TikTok food trends to steer clear of.
- “Sleepy chicken” - This trend resurfaced again recently and the idea is to marinate raw chicken in NyQuil before cooking it, which isn’t just unappealing, it’s not a safe way to consume either chicken or cold and flu medicine, according to registered dietitian Cara Harbstreet. For one thing, videos show people using up to half a bottle of NyQuil, which is way more than a dose, and the chicken often looks undercooked, which is a food safety concern.
- Toaster grilled cheese sandwiches - We love a good hack to make things better and faster, but sticking a cheese sandwich into a toaster to cook it isn’t one of them. Janilyn Hutchings, a Certified Professional in Food Safety warns that this can spark a kitchen fire and recommends using equipment for its intended purpose only.
- Washing raw chicken - You may have seen TikTokers start their recipes by washing their chicken breasts, but it’s really a food safety no-no because it can potentially contaminate your sink, counter and anything nearby with Salmonella or other bacteria on the chicken. “There is no good reason to wash raw meat," Hutchings says. “Washing does not eliminate any pathogens and increases the risk of getting a foodborne illness.”
- Nacho tables - These supersized nacho platters cover an entire table for communal grazing, but unless everyone eating washes their hands before touching the nacho table every single time, the whole thing could get contaminated.
- Squeezing lemon in coffee - Some on TikTok claim this will expedite weight loss, but there’s no evidence that supports that theory, according to registered dietitian Noah Quezada. Putting lemon juice in your coffee could actually lead to heartburn and damage tooth enamel over time, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Read the full article for yourself at Eat This, Not That