Germ-Free Cooking for the Holidays

The holidays are approaching fast and cooking is the fastest way for germs and virus to spread. You can protect your and your family from food poisoning by following the simple steps every time you prepare a meal this holiday season.

Wash your hands thoroughly with warm soap and water before you begin handing any food and then again after you handle raw meat and before you handle any other foods or meats. After you are finished preparing the turkey, ham or chicken thoroughly wash your hands again with warm soapy water.

Heat kills bacteria so there is no need to rinse off the turkey or chicken before preparing and baking. If you do want to wash the turkey or chicken off, just remember to wipe down your kitchen counter, sink and faucets afterwards to be sure you remove the splatters from the water.

Bacteria will grow inside of a turkey or even chicken if it is placed on a kitchen counter or somewhere else to thaw out. Place the turkey or chicken in the refrigerator instead, which takes longer but is the safest way to thaw.

Place the turkey or chicken to thaw out in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf and lay it on a plastic bag to prevent any of the juices from possibly dripping down and contaminating all of the other foods that are in the refrigerator.

If you have anything leftover that has cranberries in it, store in a plastic container with a lid and do not use aluminum foil because using foil will make the cranberries taste like metallic.

Since bacteria grows at a fast rate at temperatures between 40 degrees and 140 degrees, do not consume any leftover turkey, dressing or chicken that has been left to sit out overnight. Even though everything may smell okay and look okay, it needs to be tossed out.

Refrigerate all cooked foods within a two-hour time frame. After the two hour period, any cooked foods left out needs to be tossed out.

Consume any leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers within fours days of storing them in the refrigerator. After four days, toss it all out.

Sources:

Personal experience working in the Food Service Industry and Taking a Food Safety Courses