Eat, Save, and Be Healthy

Family and friends gather for holiday celebrations this time of year.  Unfortunately food safety does not take a holiday.  Follow some simple rules to keep your party safe:

• CLEAN: Wash hands and surfaces often while preparing a holiday meal. Wash cutting boards, dishes, and utensils with detergent and water after preparing each food item and before going on to the next item.
• SEPARATE: Don’t cross-contaminate. Separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from other foods in the refrigerator and during food preparation. Use one cutting board for raw meat and poultry and a separate one for vegetables and other food items. Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat and poultry unless the plate has been thoroughly cleaned.
• COOK: Cook to proper temperatures using a food thermometer. Cook roasts and steaks to at least 145 ºF, whole poultry to 165 ºF, and ground beef to 160 ºF. When reheating, leftovers should be thoroughly heated to 165 ºF; sauces, soup, and gravy should boil rapidly.
• CHILL: Refrigerate promptly; within 2 hours. Place leftovers into shallow containers for rapid cooling. The refrigerator should be maintained at 40 °F or below and the freezer at 0 °F or below. Keep a refrigerator/freezer thermometer to check temperatures.

During your party keep hot foods hot, 140 ºF or above, by using chafing dishes, slow cookers and warming trays.  And keep cold foods cold, 40 ºF or below,  by nesting the serving dishes in bowls of ice.

Protect your party guests from a foodborne illness by following these simple rules of food safety.  Happy Holidays!

For additional food safety information about meat, poultry, or egg products, visit foodsafety.gov, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline’s toll-free number 1-800-535-4555, or contact your local extension office.

Author:  Linnette Goard, Field Specialist, Food Safety, Selection and Management, Family & Consumer Sciences, Ohio State University Extension goard.@osu.edu

You have the turkey, the dressing, the sweet potatoes, the pumpkin pie, and the salmonella.  The salmonella? No thank you.  Holidays are social and full of our favorite foods, but they are also an opportune time for bacteria to enter, grow, and thrive in your refrigerator. You have a lot of people preparing the meals.  The amount of bacteria in a food is dependent on time, temperature, moisture, and how it has been handled.  Food safety, for the consumer, starts with proper selection at the store and doesn’t end until the food is consumed or tossed (when in doubt, throw it out).

The fabulous website, HomeFoodSafety.org, has tons of tips for avoiding food-borne illness as part of your holiday checklist.  As their tagline suggests, they have “everything you’ll need to have a festive, delicious, food-safe celebration”!  Some of their tips are:

* Buying the turkey. A whole turkey takes 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds to thaw in the refrigerator. Example: A 15-pound frozen bird will take 3 to 4 full days to thaw in the refrigerator. Purchase your frozen turkey as far in advance as necessary to safely thaw it in the refrigerator. If buying a fresh turkey, purchase it only 1 to 2 days before the meal and keep it refrigerated.

* Never defrost the turkey on the counter.

* Designate separate cutting boards for raw meats or clean and sanitize cutting boards between uses for different foods.

Another excellent source of food safety information is Ohio State University Extension. Here you’ll find tips on storing leftovers properly so you enjoy those favorites for a few days longer without getting sick!

Cheers, Julie