Is washing hands before handling meat/poultry necessary?
Well, nothing is mandatory as long as you are cooking for yourself.

If you are cooking in a commercial setting, there are clear guidelines on hygiene, including washing hands before handling food. 

There can be a lot of things on your hands that you might not want to go on your plate, including the dust after cleaning the house.


So if you are cooking for other people, I’d consider it a basic courtesy to work with clean, i.e. washed hands.
If you are cooking for yourself and if you think it’s superfluous, feel free to act as you see fit. Let me suggest a test if you think about skipping the initial hand washing: Would you lick your hands without batting an eye? 


The overall effort of washing ones hands is so small, during the time you are pondering the question, you could easily have washed and dried them. And if you remember that washing hands is the easiest way to prevent colds, stomach viruses and other infections, the first stop when arriving home after a day at the office or in town should be your bathroom sink anyway.