Don’t Let Merriment Turn to Misery This Holiday Season: Keep Foodborne Illness Off The Menu
Thursday, November 19, 2015
For many, the holiday season brings friends, family, and lots of good food. From cooking the turkey to homemade pies, it is easy to forget safe food handling practices during the hustle and bustle. Every year, approximately 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) become ill with a foodborne illness. The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) wants to remind everyone that it’s important to practice food safety when preparing holiday foods.
OSDH recommends the following food safety tips to prepare your turkey and keep your holiday gatherings free of foodborne illness:
Tips for Preparing and Reheating Turkey
Thaw: Allow enough time for a frozen turkey to defrost. Incorrectly thawed turkey can look safe to eat but actually will be undercooked, allowing disease-causing germs to survive inside.
Cook: Use a meat thermometer to be sure that the internal temperature of the turkey is at least 165oF. For stuffed turkeys, the internal temperature of the stuffing must reach 165oF before it is safe to eat; however, the safest way to cook stuffing is to cook in a separate casserole dish.
Store: After the meal, refrigerate remaining foods and leftover turkey within two hours. Eat leftover turkey and stuffing within three to four days, and gravy within one to two days. Reheat leftover gravy to a rolling boil, and thoroughly reheat other leftovers to 165oF.
For other safe holiday food preparation details, please visit the OSDH Holiday Cooking fact sheet at http://www.ok.gov/health2/documents/Holiday%20Cooking.pdf.
Last Modified on
Jun 03, 2022