Pink Chicken Is Always Bad. Right?
A common food complaint is of pink chicken. This is undercooked, in the picture above, right?
No. Chicken does sometime remain pink right next to the bone even when it is fully cooked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s undercooked, and therefore unsafe.
The main reasons for the pink colour in chicken are:
• Bone marrow pigments: The marrow and myoglobin in the muscle around the bone can remain pink/red after cooking. This is particularly noticeable in young chickens.
• Heat and bone chemistry: During cooking, pigments in the meat can react with heat and produce a pink colour. Therefore, cooked poultry near the bone can remain pink even when it has reached a safe temperature.
• Dark meat naturally contains more myoglobin, so thighs and drumsticks are especially prone to looking pink around the bone.
Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidance says that that pink, fleshy meat is a sign of undercooking when using visual checks. However, the FSA specifies measuring the temperature of chicken away from the bone. The relevant safety test is the temperature reached in the meat, rather than simply whether the area immediately touching the bone has changed colour.
“Poultry (such as chicken, turkey, duck, and game birds) and pork can have bacteria all the way through the meat. This means that these meats need to be cooked all the way through.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cooking-your-food
The safe time/temperature combinations (measured with a disinfected calibrated probe):
|
Internal temperature |
Minimum time |
| 70°C | 2 minutes |
| 60°C | 45 minutes |
| 65°C | 10 minutes |
| 75°C | 30 seconds |
| 80°C | 6 seconds |
Here is an example of guidance from one council’s food safety team.
“A natural pigment held within the bone being released after cooking and taking on the appearance of meat not being correctly cooked causes red leg in cooked chicken.”
“The chicken will be thoroughly cooked, but the temperature is not high enough to denature the pigment.”
“This is not a public health risk.”
In Summary:
Colour isn’t a reliable way of telling whether chicken is cooked safely. Cooked chicken should meet the safe/temperature in the centre/fleshiest part. This is measured with a disinfected calibrated food thermometer.
So, if you’ve eaten, for example, chicken and it’s piping hot throughout and has reached 75°C (or the equivalent safe time/temperature combination) at the thickest part, a pink/red area immediately alongside the bone isn’t, by itself, a reason to worry.
A reputable food business should be happy to show a customer the measured temperature of the cooked chicken so that they can be reassured it is safe.
Safety in Action helps food businesses with food safety documentation, training, consultations and practical advice. If you’re concerned about your food safety procedures or would like an expert to review them, get in touch.
Blog and image created with the help of AI.