Holiday Food: Delicious And Safe

Did you know that between 1993-97, a total of 2,751 outbreaks of food-borne disease were reported?

According to the National Center for Infectious Diseases, these outbreaks caused a reported 86,058 persons to become ill.

Salmonella accounted for the largest number of outbreaks; most of these outbreaks were attributed to eating eggs.

Here are some tips to avoid sickness caused by food-borne illnesses during the holiday season.

Planning For Holiday Meals

When planning a holiday meal or party, choose foods that can be served safely under the conditions of your planned activity. For example:

Hot foods need to be kept above 140 degrees F and cold foods need to be kept below 40 degrees F. Temperature abuse is a common cause of food-borne illness.

On the buffet table, keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, crockpots and warming trays.

Keep foods cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice. You can also use small serving dishes and replace them often.

Never leave the food on the table for more than two hours. Don't plan to serve hot or cold foods if you can't keep them hot or cold.

Sanitation is critical. Because we are serving larger numbers of people and storing and preparing more food than usual, we have an increased risk for food-borne illness. Refrigerators are often overloaded. Therefore, poor sanitation in the kitchen can cause more problems than usual.

Cross-contamination is another major cause of food-borne illness. Any surface that food comes in contact with is a source of contamination. Cooking utensils, dishes and cutting boards exposed to raw meat and/or poultry products should be thoroughly washed prior to use for any cooked foods to prevent cross-contamination.

Shopping For Holiday Foods

Plan your holiday menu and then go shopping.

When you're out, grocery shop last. Never leave food in the car; the car can become very hot.

Take food straight home to the refrigerator to keep it safe.

When buying large pieces of frozen meat, such as a turkey, remember that it takes several days to safely thaw it. So you'll need to buy frozen meat at least four to five days before your planned activity.

Don't buy food in poor condition.

Make sure refrigerated food is cold to the touch. Frozen food should be rock-solid.

Canned goods should be free of dents, cracks or bulging lids.

Packaged foods should have no rips or tears.

Check use-by dates that are on packages. Don't buy anything that is past its expiration date.

When buying raw meat or poultry, wrap in a plastic bag so meat juices won't drip on other foods in your cart.

Storing holiday foods

Storing food for holiday meals can be a real challenge. During holidays, we typically buy more food than usual and quite often different types of food than normal. Be especially careful that you don't overload your refrigerator. Putting large amounts of hot food in you refrigerator at one time can cause your refrigerator temperature to become unsafe.

Put leftovers in small containers so they cool quickly when placed in the refrigerator.

Large containers of food not only cool slowly, but they also keep the refrigerator at an unsafe temperature.

If you cannot quickly use up leftovers, freeze them.

Frozen turkey, stuffing and gravy should be used within one month.

Leftover turkey kept in the refrigerator should be used within three to four days; stuffing and gravy within one to two days. Bring leftover gravy to a rolling boil before serving.

Preparing Turkey

Thawing:

The best way to thaw all frozen foods is on a tray in its original wrapping, in the refrigerator.
When thawing large amounts of food, allow 24 hours per five pounds. For example, it could take up to five days to thaw a 24-pound turkey.
If you are in a hurry, thaw in a microwave oven. However, it could still take one to two hours on the defrost cycle.
Shield bony areas to prevent cooking during the defrost cycle and rotate the turkey several time during defrosting.
Be sure to follow the manufacturer's directions for thawing food in your microwave oven.
If you thaw food in your microwave, you must also cook it immediately thereafter.

Cooking:

When cooking a turkey, don't forget to remove the giblet package in the cavity prior to cooking.
Cook the turkey prior to stuffing. Stuffing may be added after the turkey is cooked or cooked separately. If the turkey is stuffed before cooking, some of the stuffing may never get hot enough to kill bacteria that is normally killed during routine cooking of the turkey
Roast your turkey in an oven at a temperature of 325 degrees F or hotter. The best way to check turkey temperatures is to to use a meat thermometer.
Insert the thermometer in the large meaty muscle on the inside of the thigh without touching the bone. Dark meat turkey pieces are done when the thermometer reaches 180 degrees F or above.
Doneness can also be detected by inserting a long-tined fork into the thickest part of the inner thigh.
If the juices run clear, not pink, the turkey is done.

The following roasting list is for fresh or thawed, unstuffed turkey.

The National Turkey Federation recommends allowing whole turkeys to stand 10-20 minutes before carving.

To insure a safe holiday meal, you have approximately two hours to serve the meal and then refrigerate or freeze the leftovers.

Why just two hours? Because harmful bacteria that cause food-borne illness can multiply to unsafe levels on perishable foods left at room temperature for more than two hours.

More Turkey Tips