Your holiday food safety questions, answered
'Tis the season for gratitude, for keeping traditions and starting new ones, for friends and family – and lots and lots of food.
If you’re going to be cooking this holiday season (or really, if you’re going to be cooking at any point ever), it’s important to learn how to keep your kitchen safe from foodborne pathogens. We asked some food safety experts from the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences (ACBS) for tips to keep your holiday feasts from turning into fiascos.
Clean before you cook.
Food safety begins before you fire up the oven. Margie Sanchez-Vega, an assistant professor of practice in ACBS who specializes in food safety and processing, said preventing food poisoning begins with a clean kitchen.
“The kitchen can be a tricky area to clean, and we often overlook areas that can play an important role in food safety,” she said. “Keeping a clean sink can significantly reduce the probability of contamination, as can cleaning and disinfecting all countertops. Even the stove and oven should be cleaned – high heat takes care of the vast majority of foodborne pathogens, but things like biofilms (food residues left behind) can contribute to contamination.”
Margarethe Cooper, an associate professor of practice specializing in food safety in ACBS, said it’s also important to make sure that your refrigerator is clean.
“If you have any kind of raw meat in your refrigerator, you really need to think about where you put it,” she said. “With turkey, for example, it’s best to store it toward the bottom of the fridge and away from any ready-to-eat foods it could contaminate. And if possible, place the turkey in a tray so that it can’t drip juices onto your fridge shelves or other foods.”
Sanchez-Vega also advised that home cooks pay attention to their tools.
“The most concerning food contact surfaces are usually the cutting boards,” she said. “With constant use, cutting boards will have a collection of grooves and cuts in them. This kind of damage to the surface represents a high risk for the proliferation of bacteria and mold.”
She recommended that home cooks keep multiple cutting boards so they can dedicate them to specific foods like meat, poultry, fish or vegetables. And if your cutting boards have lots of cuts, it’s best to replace them.
Thaw frozen turkeys in the fridge.
Sanchez-Vega said that the safest option for thawing turkey is the refrigerator.
“One of the best ways to thaw out frozen foods is doing so gradually, by moving the frozen food from the freezer to the fridge,” she said. “Refrigerator thawing does take time, though. A rule of thumb is to allow 24 hours in the fridge per 4-5 pounds of frozen meat, so if you’re working with a 15-pound turkey, that means at least three days in the fridge.”
If you don’t have time for refrigerator thawing, Cooper said it is possible to safely thaw turkey in cold water or in the microwave.
“For cold-water thawing, the USDA recommends you allow about 30 minutes per pound of meat,” she said. “For microwave thawing, you’ll need to consult your owner’s manual.”
She encouraged cooks to consult the USDA’s website for more information on safe thawing practices.
Wash your hands and your produce, but not your turkey.
We all know how important it is to wash our hands, especially when we’re handling food. But washing hands before you begin isn’t enough. Cooper said you should be washing your hands throughout the cooking process, especially if you’re handling raw meat.
“Ideally, you’d save any raw-meat handling for the end of your process so you can’t contaminate any ready-to-eat foods,” she said. “No matter what, you want to thoroughly wash your hands immediately after you’ve handled raw meat to prevent accidental transmission of bacteria to other foods or surfaces.”
Produce should also be washed before it’s eaten, even if you plan to cook it.
“Fresh vegetables may have residual soil and bacteria, so it’s important to rinse them,” Cooper said. “Typically, you’re going to be rinsing produce for at least 20 seconds under cold, running water, and then patting it dry with a clean, fresh towel or paper towels.”
One thing you shouldn’t wash? Your turkey.
Sanchez-Vega said that while washing the turkey may seem like a logical decontamination step, it actually has the opposite effect.
“We always have to assume that all kinds of raw poultry are contaminated with microorganisms, particularly Salmonella,” she said. “By washing raw poultry, what we’re really doing is spreading all those water droplets with Salmonella all over our kitchen.”
She said the best way to ensure that your turkey doesn’t cause food poisoning is adequate cooking.
“Think of cooking as your ‘killing’ step,” she explained. “If your raw turkey reaches at least 165°F internally, and you allow between 15-20 minutes per pound of cooking time, that will guarantee a turkey that is safe to eat and that the Salmonella present in it has been destroyed.”
Cook your stuffing separately.
Despite its name, it turns out everyone’s favorite side dish should be cooked separately from the turkey, according to Cooper.
“Cooking stuffing inside the bird is very risky,” she said. “When you’re roasting a turkey, the cavity at the center is going to be the last part to cook. It’s going to warm very slowly, and as it’s warming, the stuffing is going to be like a sponge absorbing any drippings. It has the potential to be a very warm, perfect ball for bacteria to grow very rapidly, especially if it never reaches the killing temperature of 165°F.”
Cooper suggests cooking your stuffing separately in a slow cooker, casserole dish or on the stovetop as the safest options. And if your stuffing recipe includes meats like sausage or oysters, cook the meat separately before adding it to the bread mixture to prevent cross-contamination.
Some notes on baked goods.
The holiday season is synonymous with baking for many families. But before you toss on your favorite apron to bake your world famous pumpkin pie, it’s important to check the freshness of your ingredients.
“Flour does go bad,” Sanchez-Vega said. “Its shelf life varies by type, with whole grain and nut flours spoiling sooner due to higher fat content. To tell if your flour has gone bad, check for a rancid or musty smell, or signs of mold or bugs.”
While sugar doesn’t go bad in ways that make it unsafe to eat, its quality can degrade over time, she said. It’s best to store both flour and sugar in a cool, dark place to extend its optimum shelf life.
And one more thing – resist the temptation to lick batter off your mixer.
“Batter can contain raw eggs that can be contaminated with Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens,” she said.
How to handle leftovers.
After the feasting is finished, it’s important to chill the leftovers right away, according to food safety experts.
“Ideally, you want to put leftovers in the fridge within two hours of taking them out of the oven,” Cooper said. “And if possible, try to cool any hot dishes a bit before you put them away so that they don’t raise the temperature inside your refrigerator.”
Leftovers should be separated by type and stored in shallow, airtight containers, which allow food to cool more quickly than deep, sealed pots, said Sanchez-Vega.
How long can you safely eat those leftovers? Sanchez-Vega recommends that if you’re storing them in the fridge, you eat them within 3-4 days.
“If you’re storing leftovers in the freezer at 0°F, they can be kept almost indefinitely,” she said. “But for best quality (taste and texture), it’s recommended you eat them within 3-4 months.”