It’s turkey month! Many of us are looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner later this month, but it’s important to remember food safety during this time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that every year about a million people get sick from eating poultry contaminated with harmful germs. To avoid getting sick, it’s important to take steps to protect your health and the health of those for whom you are cooking. In the store:
Once Thanksgiving dinner is done, it’s important to still keep food safety in mind. Be sure to refrigerate leftovers within two hours to prevent bacteria from growing on food. Use shallow pans or containers to store leftovers; this decreases the time it takes for food to leave the unsafe temperature zone where bacteria can grow (40˚F to 140˚F). Remove leftover stuffing from inside your turkey and store it separately. And, while we all love Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s best not to consume leftovers after they have been in the refrigerator for more than 3-4 days (this means the Tuesday after Thanksgiving). Use the freezer to store leftovers for longer periods of time. Need some fun recipe ideas to help use up those Thanksgiving leftovers before they go bad? Check out this blog for yummy recipes! Pregnant at Thanksgiving? Take these extra precautions! Skip the eggnog, it can contain raw eggs and unpasteurized milk which can carry Salmonella. Also pass on the unpasteurized apple cider, there’s a danger of E. coli. Both of these can cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms and high fever, which put you and your pregnancy at risk. Best to just stick to other beverages. Although they are so yummy, avoid soft cheeses and cold cuts. Soft cheeses like brie, camembert, blue cheese, and cheeses made with unpasteurized milk can cause illness, as can cold cuts. If cold cuts cannot be avoided, be sure to heat to steaming hot or to a minimum temperature of 165˚F.
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AuthorOPHIE records and analyzes data from disease investigations, identifies risk factors, and provides education on disease prevention in Nevada. Archives
November 2018
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