Five Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving Tips!

The holidays are a wonderful time of year, filled with friends and family celebrations. Ensure your loved ones stay healthy throughout the holidays with these food safety guidelines:

Keep your hands, cooking area, and dishes clean.

Wash your hands before and after handling food.

Keep your kitchen, dishes, and utensils clean.

Always serve food on clean plates. Bacteria from plates that held raw meat and poultry can cross-contaminate cooked food items and cause illness.

Use a thermometer to check temperatures.

Undercooked foods can cause illness.

Cook turkey or chicken to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F. Check the internal temperature in the thigh and wing’s innermost part and the breast’s thickest part.

Pork and egg dishes should be cooked to 160°F.

Remember the two-hour rule.

Foods should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours. Keep track of how long foods have been sitting on the buffet table and discard anything there for two hours or more.

Keep hot foods HOT and cold foods COLD.

Hot foods should be held at 140°F or warmer. Keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays.

Cold foods should be held at 40°F or colder. Keep foods cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice. Otherwise, use small serving trays and replace them.

Store and reheat leftovers properly.

Cut the turkey into small pieces; refrigerate stuffing and turkey separately in shallow containers within 2 hours of cooking.

Use leftover turkey and stuffing within 3-4 days or freeze.

Reheat thoroughly to a temperature of 165°F or until hot and steaming.

GNR Pubic Health keeps Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale healthy, protected, and prepared. Do you have questions about this article? We are here to help. Call 770-339-4260. Ask for the Epi on Call.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture

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