There are a number of food items that many would say are quintessentially millennial: avocados, sourdough bread and nut butter to name a few.

However, handling raw meat is apparently a massive no-no for Generation Y.

Sainsbury’s is set to launch touch-free packaging for its chicken pieces, following research that revealed that many under the age of 35 fear that they may suffer from food poisoning as a result of touching raw meat.

This new packaging, which will be available from 3 May, will allow people to avoid coming into direct contact with raw meat when cooking.

The supermarket chain has developed plastic “no touch” pouches that can be opened with a simple tear.

“Customers, particularly younger ones, are quite scared of touching raw meat,” Katherine Hall, product development manager for meat, fish and poultry at Sainsbury’s, told The Sunday Times.

“These bags allow people, especially those who are time-poor, to just ‘rip and tip’ the meat straight into the frying pan without touching it.”

According to the research, conducted by Sainsbury’s and its poultry suppliers, a number of young people spend more time dining out than cooking at home, which is why they’re less knowledgeable about how to safely handle raw meat.

“We find it disconcerting that shoppers are so removed from their food that they have these concerns,” said Ruth Mason, chief food chain adviser at the National Farmers’ Union.

“But we are aware it is a growing trend – and a lot of the data suggests there are concerns about handling raw meat.”

While Sainsbury’s may believe it's doing millennials a favour by letting them cut out the possibility of touching raw meat completely, some have criticised the supermarket for the detrimental environmental impact of the proposed new plastic packaging.

“We have a serious problem with plastic choking our world right now and @sainsburys are apparently putting chicken into plastic pouches that will no doubt be contained within additional plastic packaging,” one person wrote on Twitter.

Another individual commented: “So they are adding MORE plastic packaging when other retailers are trying to reduce? Crazy @sainsburys! If you can’t bear to touch raw meat you shouldn’t be eating it.”

If the range of touch-free packaged chicken proves a success, then pork and fish products will also follow suit in future.