Expert: Florence M Rollwagen - 11/26/2008

Question
While at the supermarket I picked up a packet of fresh cut poultry. I used a clean plastic produce bag to hold and wrap the poultry, so I did not at any time actually touch the packet.
There was a very foul, feces like smell coming from the poultry chiller which I noticed. I did not make the purchase. But the smell lingered on my hands for almost an hour even after vigorously scrubbing and cleaning my hands.
What was that smell and why did it linger on my skin even when I never touched the meat?

Answer
Hi Randa:  Thanks for your question.  I'm guessing that one of two things happened:  one, you did actually touch the chicken package.  Even though the chicken is wrapped up, there is still a coating of "chicken material" on the outside because of handling.  Or, the putrid smell was so powerful that sufficient molecules came in contact with your skin and bonded with the proteins there.  That would explain why you couldn't wash it off.

Materials are always transitioning from solid state to their gaseous state (called "sublimation").  But they do it at a very slow rate, so you don't notice solid materials shrinking (except moth balls).  So some of the "chicken material" was airborne in the poultry case and latched onto your skin.  We also see this phenomenon when we've been in the elevator with a smoker, or cooked fish permeates your skin.

Hope this helps!  Write back if you have more questions.

FM Rollwagen, PhD