Chicken Seizure Salad is one of my favourite recipes. It was one of the first I wrote and I have seen it made in real life at a local cafe. It happens every day in real life and is easily avoided.

With this demonstration I use an awesome product called Glitterbug (see Glitterbug.net.au) which is normally used for hand washing training. I use it here to mimic the bacteria and liquid around the chicken.

Ingredients and equipment

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 lettuce
• Glitterbug Potion
• UV Torch
• 1 chopping board
• 1 knife
• 1 bowl (for the salad)
• 1 tray (for the chicken)

Preparation

Pre-cook the chicken so that it is still white but safe(r) to handle. This is a demonstration, not the real thing!

Coat the chicken with Glitterbug Potion. Only a couple of squirts is required.

Instructions

• Place the chicken on the chopping board.
• Cut a small piece off it (pretending to clean up the uncooked chicken)
• Place it on a tray.
• Repeat a couple of times. Yes it’s the one piece of chicken but I’m not going to spend $15 on chicken pretending to feed my family. The reason for repeating is to ensure that the Glitterbug Potion on the chopping board and knife.
• Wipe your hands on a tea towel or shirt (note: pretest the material to see how it reacts under a UV light. Many won’t be suitable)
• Pull the lettuce apart and place the leaves on the chopping board. Move them about and then place them in a bowl.
• If I was really keen, I would swap the chicken at this stage with a clean cooked chicken and then place it on the chopping board to cut up and place on top of the lettuce.
• Shine the UV torch on the coated chicken, then the chopping board, then the knife, and finally the lettuce.

Results

The chicken absolutely glows which is to be expected. It is coated in germs. This reinforces the idea that chicken is coated in bacteria.

(Note: Glitterbug does not reveal germs, it mimics being a germ. It is the potion that is glowing, not germs).

The chopping board now glows. Much of it is already visible because the Glitterbug Potion looks like moisturiser. When it lights up under UV, however, there is a really strong impression of how bad it is.

The knife handle and blade will also be glowing.

The Glitterbug Potion will appear in patches over the lettuce. By this stage the results will speak for themselves.

The big question

Who would eat this salad?

The follow on questions

If the chicken had been left in the heat for a couple of hours before cooking, who would eat the chicken?

At this stage our traditional standards would kick in and most people would say no. They know that the chicken is no longer safe to eat. Cooking it, however, is likely to kill of most of the bacteria.

Who would eat the lettuce?

They have seen the results so none of them should be silly enough to say the salad is safe to eat. The reality is, the lettuce is now far more dangerous than the cooked chicken.

Except we cut the chicken on the same chopping board so technically they are both potentially deadly items.

Takeaway

I really hate the expression “so what’s the takeaway message from this”. I used the title here just so I can say this.

The question that I finish with is:

At home, what needs to change?

This is a great opportunity to talk about dedicated chopping boards, hand washing, tea towels, and chicken.