Would you eat raw Chicken Sashimi?

By Nur Ashikin Vira

A leading food and wine blogger has caused a disturbance after posting an image of sashimi made from raw chicken on social media.

On their tweet, they opposed a big question: “Is chicken sashimi safe?”

While the delicacy is found in Japan, Australian palates and health officials are not so keen, given it risks of salmonella poisoning. The controversial tweet post which stated: “Would you eat raw chicken, if it was in sashimi form?” was shared, 267 retweets and 460 likes. Marc Murphy, an executive chef and owner of popular Benchmarc Restaurants in New York, took to the social media platform to proclaim his love for chicken sashimi, but Perth restaurants have a different view. Joseph Reyes, a sushi employee from Shiki Inn at Garden City Booragoon, expressed his distaste for the idea. “I have been working and making sushi for 12 years, and I personally will not consume or make one for myself.” Another Garden City sushi maker, Mrs Junko, an owner of Zhushibento, told Bounce News that she would feel like an outlaw if she sold raw meat sushi, especially raw chicken. “It is really dangerous and I do not want to serve something that will scare my customers away. I am Japanese and I never heard of chicken sashimi before,” Mrs Junko said. According to the Department of Health, our food regulation in Western Australia, do not ban the consumption of raw chicken but recommends against it. It says raw poultry has high risk of being naturally contaminated with the pathogenic bacteria and poultry should be cooked thoroughly – A guide to the Food Safety Standards. People have been cautioned against taking a bite of undercooked chicken. Most restaurants in Japan that serves chicken sashimi do work closely with small farms to ensure that chickens are raised to the highest standards, and come in as fresh as possible. But, it is really not something you can ensure for yourself at home if you are a sashimi aficionado. Avoid eating raw chicken if you are pregnant, very young or old, or immune-compromised. So, consider Chicken Sashimi as an “eat at your own risk” kind of dish.