3 Tips For A Food Poisoning-Free Thanksgiving

Take it from doctors, Thanksgiving can be dangerous.

Raw poultry can contain salmonella and other bacteria that can cause miserable GI symptoms — and ruin the holiday.

Dr. Lello Tesema, unit chief of food and waterborne disease at the L.A. County Department of Public Health, offered some food safety tips to keep everyone around the table healthy.

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Cook the turkey thoroughly

The Thanksgiving turkey may bring salmonella or other bacteria to the festivities. To kill any potential bacteria, use a food thermometer to make sure the turkey cooks to 165 degrees — and don’t rinse it off in the sink, Tesema said.

Keep foods separate

To avoid cross contamination, wash your hands often, especially after touching raw meat and poultry. Use separate surfaces, knives, serving dishes and utensils for meat and other foods.

“Make sure you separate your meats and other poultry from your fruits and vegetables, and use separate cooking boards, knives and platters and wash items thoroughly when you’re cooking meat and non-meat items at the same time,” Tesema said.

Rather than stuffing the turkey, cook the stuffing in a separate casserole dish. Both will cook faster and the stuffing won’t be potentially laced with bacteria from the bird.

The 2-hour rule

Keep hot foods hot by using chafing dishes, or keep foods in the oven to ensure they remain at 135 degrees or above. Alternatively, keep cold foods cold at 40 degrees or below. Once dinner is over, refrigerate the leftovers. Food is not safe to eat if it has been sitting out for 2 hours or more.

Don’t put a whole turkey carcass back in the fridge. Instead, take the remaining meat off the bird and store it in a container in the refrigerator. Tesema says to throw out foods that stood out too long, and eat cooked leftovers within three to four days. After that, the risk of food poisoning increases. Reheat all leftovers to at least 165 degrees before serving or eating.

Safety hotline

For Thanksgiving food safety questions, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) or chat live at ask.usda.gov from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.