Thanksgiving Food Safety – Keeping Your Holiday Healthy
Thanksgiving: the ultimate annual American food fest. Whether you’ll be hosting, or cooking a single dish to take to a celebration elsewhere, be sure to thaw, prepare, transport and reheat your food safely. Said UHS Clinical Nutrition Coordinator, Jaclyn Zindell, RD, CDN, “The holidays are exciting times filled with hustle and bustle. Everyone wants their celebrations to be one for the books! To insure these memorable moments are happy ones, take care to follow proper food safety practices to protect friends and family against food-borne illness.”
Start simple and wash your hands with soap and hot water before beginning food prep, especially if you will be directly touching consumable items like dough, bread or vegetables. Rewash your hands as needed, such as after handling raw meat.
If you’re responsible for the turkey, thaw it safely. There are two methods – thawing in the refrigerator (the safest, but slower, method) or thawing in a cold-water bath. The second method is faster but requires more time and attention to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. If you choose this option, the water should be changed out every 30 minutes. Online calculators are available to help you determine the required thawing time based on the weight of your frozen bird. While thawing in the fridge, contain raw items in bowls, pots, Tupperware or sealed plastic bags to keep juices from dripping onto other foods. Resist the temptation to thaw any frozen foods on the counter. Keep raw meats on the lowest shelf of your refrigerator; do not store anything underneath it.
It’s the big day. Once the cooking begins, be sure to cook food thoroughly. Use a food thermometer to ensure that each dish containing meat, poultry, seafood or eggs reaches the recommended minimum internal temperature for consumption. Do not wash the turkey before cooking – this simply spreads raw poultry bacteria in your kitchen. Be sure to remove all the items packed inside the turkey – the liver, gizzard, heart and neck, which can be discarded or prepared – before putting the bird in the oven. A variety of online and toll-free phone services are available to help you calculate the appropriate cook time for your bird so you fire up the oven early enough – Google “turkey cooking questions” to choose from your options.
For maximum safety, bake stuffing separately in a casserole dish. If you choose to cook your stuffing inside the turkey itself, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends placing the stuffing inside the bird just before the turkey goes in the oven. Use a food thermometer to be sure the stuffing’s center reaches 165°F, and then keep the stuffing inside the turkey’s cavity for at least 20 minutes after removing the bird from the oven to offer a little extra cooking time. Cooking stuffing inside the turkey adds to the overall cooking time, and can lead to overcooked, dry white meat.
If you’ll be serving up traditional items such as eggnog, tiramisu, hollandaise sauce or Caesar dressing, choose pasteurized eggs instead of raw. Pasteurized eggs are sold as a liquid product or as whole eggs that have been pasteurized in the shell. The pasteurization process removes salmonella and other bacteria that can live on the inside or outside of eggs. And as much as many people love to do it, it’s not safe to eat raw dough or batter. Although raw eggs are the most common culprit behind illnesses related to raw baked goods, even flour can contain salmonella or e. coli. Wait to sample your treats until they come out of the oven and have cooled.
If you’ll be traveling with a prepared dish, be sure to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold on the way, whether that means a special hot pack for food transport, or a cooler with ice. When you arrive at your destination, get your perishables into the fridge or a warming oven as appropriate.
After the meal, refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours to prevent growth of bacteria. Your refrigerator should be set at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and the freezer at or below zero Fahrenheit. In the days immediately after Thanksgiving, assess your leftovers and be sure to consume them in a timely fashion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends eating or freezing leftovers within three to four days of the original prep date.
For more information, visit https://www.foodsafety.gov