What feels like a harmless habit can actually make your kitchen more dangerous. When raw ground beef is rinsed under the tap, tiny droplets of contaminated water can splash onto counters, handles, cutting boards, and nearby food. The very step some cooks believe makes their meal “safer” may be spreading bacteria far beyond the sink. And while rinsing may wash away a bit of surface fat, it also carries that grease into your pipes, where it cools, hardens, and can slowly choke your plumbing.

Experts at the USDA are clear: don’t wash ground beef. Proper cooking, not rinsing, is what kills harmful bacteria. If you want to reduce fat, brown the meat thoroughly, then drain it into a heat-safe container and throw the solidified grease in the trash. In the end, the choice is yours—but the science isn’t on the side of the sink.