Special Holiday Food Safety Information

With all the excitement of the holidays, it can be easy to forget about food safety when you're cooking up that tasty bird (or Tofurky for you veggies out there) and a multitude of sides.

Lucky for you, we've got your back this holiday season with food safety tips that will ensure your family has an enjoyable feast!

1. Give those hands a good sudsing! Remember to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water and dry your hands with a paper towel after you use the restroom, before preparing foods, after handling raw meats and before eating.

2. Keep those food surfaces clean. Wash and sanitize all food-contact surfaces. If your dishwasher doesn't have a sanitizing cycle (or if you don't have a dishwasher) you can immerse your cutting boards, utensils and other nifty kitchen gadgets that come into contact with food for at least 1 minute in a solution of 1 tsp of 5.25 percent household bleach per gallon of water. Wash fruits and veggies before preparing too.

3. Cross-contamination is naughty. Put the turkey directly into the roasting pan as you remove it from the wrapper to avoid contaminating the sink and other surfaces with bacteria. Don’t touch other foods with your hands or utensils that have been used on raw poultry without properly washing them first. Washing your hands, wearing rad disposable gloves, and changing them after handling raw foods is the safest way to prevent cross contamination.

4. What's the right way to thaw a turkey? You have a few optionshere: you can stick it in the fridge (make sure the temp is 41°F or less) for 3-4 days, you can put it under cool running water at a temp of 75°F or less, or you can thaw it in the microwave then cook it immediately (in the oven, not in the microwave!).

5. Make sure your food is really cooked. Sounds simple enough, but taking the temperature of your food is critical. A turkey should be cooked at 325°F until it reaches an internal temp of at least 165°F. If you stuff that bird, keep in mind that the stuffing can take longer than the the turkey to reach 165°F. Cooked, hot foods should be kept at at 140°F or warmer. Always use a food thermometer to check temperatures. Remember to keep hot foods hot (165°F or above) and cold foods cold (41°F or less).

6. The secret to the stuffing. Make sure the oven is ready as soon as you're done preparing your turkey and stuffing. Using cold stuffing can make it more difficult to ensure your food reaches 165°F. If you like a bird with a full belly, stuff the turkey loosely using 3/4 of a cup of stuffing per pound of turkey. Moist stuffing is recommended because heat kills bacteria better in a moist environment. If you're not into the stuffed bird or you prefer to live cautiously, cook the stuffing separately--it's safer.

7. Going cold turkey. Cold foods should be kept at 41°F or less. Once you're done feasting on the bird, slice it up and refrigerate it on shallow platters. Store your leftover foods in shallow containers and stick 'em in the fridge. You can relive that feast for another 3-4 days (except for the gravy, which will only be good for another 1-2 days)! Leftover turkey should be reheated to a minimum temp of 165°F.

8. Keep the sick people outta the kitchen. Don't prepare foods if you are experiencing icky symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea or if you've recently experienced those symptoms. Many food borne illnesses are transmitted unknowingly by a food preparer who had these symptoms, even if they've washed their hands. If you're sick, lay back, relax and let someone else do all the work!

Food Safety

Every year, thousands of Americans get sick due to food borne illness. Fortunately, there are simple steps you can take to keep your food safe.

• Temperature Control
  Keeping foods out of the “DANGER ZONE” will help to lower your risk of food borne illness. Generally, foods should be kept below 45 degrees or above 140 degrees. Although there are exceptions to this rule, reducing the amount of time food spends in the DANGER ZONE means reducing your chance of getting sick.

• Cross-Contamination
  Raw protein foods, like steak, hamburger, fish, and chicken, may contain harmful bacteria. When preparing these types of foods, be sure to keep them away from other foods, like vegetables that are not going to be cooked. Utensils and cutting boards used to prepare raw foods should not be used to prepare or serve cooked foods. You can sanitize these utensils to make them safe for use by washing them in a bleach and water solution (1/2 cap of food safe bleach to gallon of water, 50-100 ppm). This will lessen the possibility of transferring harmful bacteria from the raw food to the cooked food.

• Personal Hygiene
  In the United States, a large percentage of the healthy population carries potentially harmful bacteria in their nose and mouth. If these bacteria get into food, they can multiply and make you sick. To reduce this possibility, it is extremely important to keep your hands clean when preparing or handling food. Simply scrubbing your hands with soap and water will significantly decrease the amount of bacteria that comes in contact with your food.

Remember – keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, completely separate raw foods from cooked foods and wash your hands well and often to protect your family from food borne illness.