Food Safety Tips for Your Holiday

Food Safety Tips for Your Holiday

If turkey is the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving feast, follow these food safety tips to properly handle and prepare it. Food handling errors and inadequate cooking are the most common problems that lead to foodborne disease outbreaks linked to poultry in the United States. CDC and partners are currently investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonellainfections linked to raw turkey products. As of November 6, 2018, 164 people infected with the outbreak strain have been reported from 35 states.

We encourage everyone to safely thaw, handle, and cook your turkey to help prevent germs from growing. Thaw your turkey in the refrigerator rather than on the counter and do not rinse your turkey. Consider cooking the stuffing in a casserole dish rather than inside the turkey. It’s also important to use a thermometer to check whether your turkey has been cooked to a safe internal temperature of 165°F.

You can find more food safety tips for the holidays below:

• Refrigerate leftovers quickly to prevent Clostridium perfringens, one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the United States. CDC estimates C. perfringenscauses nearly 1 million foodborne illnesses each year in the United States. Serve meat and poultry dishes hot, within 2 hours after cooking.

• Say no to raw dough. Eating or tasting unbaked products that are intended to be cooked, such as dough or batter, can make you sick. Children can get sick from touching or eating raw dough used for crafts or play clay, too.

• Practice safety when preparing chitlins, a traditional Southern food. Before you begin, take out everything you’ll need to prepare chitlins and to clean up with when you’re done. Keep children out of the kitchen while you prepare chitlins and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water after you’re done.