Holiday Food Safety

It’s the holidays! Time for decking the halls with boughs of holly and roasting chestnuts on an open fire. This season of goodwill and giving thanks is also a festive celebration of food. With so many delightful foods to choose from, it’s important to keep holiday treats safe from harmful bacteria. You can’t see, taste, or smell bacteria, but it can be on food and multiply rapidly in moist, warm conditions. If consumed, harmful bacteria can cause foodborne illness.

Join in the festivities and ensure a safe holiday feasting season for you, your family, and your friends by following these food safety tips.

Clean: Wash hands and food-contact surfaces often. Bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen and get onto cutting boards, knives, sponges, and counter tops.

Separate: Don't cross-contaminate--don't let bacteria spread from one food product to another. This is especially true for raw meat, poultry and seafood. Keep these foods and their juices away from ready-to-eat foods.

Cook: Cook to proper temperatures. Foods are properly cooked when they are heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness.

Chill: Refrigerate promptly. Refrigerate foods quickly keeps most harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying. Refrigerators should be set at 40 F and the freezer at 0 F, and the accuracy of the settings should be checked occasionally with a thermometer.

If you have questions about food safety in your own kitchen over the holidays, please call us at 343-4200. Happy Holidays!