Health and Social Services
Let's talk turkey...
Across the territory, Yukoners are getting ready to celebrate the holidays with friends, family -- and food.
Here are some steps to take to avoid spoiling your holiday with food-borne illnesses.
- Always wash your hands before and after handling food
- Keep kitchen, utensils and dishes clean
- Serve food on clean plates.
If you are preparing food ahead of time, cook to a safe internal temperature. Cool quickly to 4°C by dividing food into small, shallow containers for storing in the refrigerator until serving
Reheat hot foods to 74°C and keep at 60°C using crock pots or warming trays. Cold foods can be maintained by nesting dishes in bowls of ice.
Throw away any foods that have been left out at room temperature for more than two hours.
Use a clean serving plate or tray when putting out fresh food. Don’t add new food to serving dishes already in use.
Provide serving spoons or tongs with every dish served. Even finger foods like nuts, cut vegetables, candies, and chips should have serving tools to prevent contamination between guests.
Special holiday foods
Store-bought eggnog is a pasteurized product and as such, does not contain raw eggs. Of you are making eggnog at home, substitute raw eggs with pasteurized egg products, found in most grocery stores.
If you are making punch or serving cider, make sure the product is pasteurized. It it has not been pasteurized, then bring to a boil and cool before serving.
Unpasteurized fruit juice and cider may contain bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli that can cause serious illnesses, especially in children, seniors and individuals with weakened immunize systems.
Make sure your baked goods are cooked thoroughly. Uncooked cookie dough, batters or frostings made with raw eggs can contain Salmonella bacteria so don’t lick the spoon or eat raw dough when using raw eggs.
Make sure you cook your turkey until it reaches a minimum internal temperature of 85° C. Use a digital thermometer to ensure that it is cooked. Always wash the food thermometer and any other utensils that were used on raw or partially cooked foods before using them to check food again.
Cook your stuffing separately in the oven in its own dish, or on the stovetop. If you do stuff your turkey, make sure you remove all the stuffing right after the bird is removed from the oven.
If you are serving oysters or seafood like cooked cold shrimp rings, keep them refrigerated and serve them on ice to keep them cold.
Some say the best part of Christmas dinner is the leftovers. Make sure that you refrigerate all leftovers promptly in uncovered shallow containers so they cool quickly. Refrigerate once steaming stops and cover only when food has cooled sufficiently.
Store turkey separately from gravy and stuffing
Use refrigerated leftovers within two to three days or freeze right away for later use.
Reheat solid leftovers, like turkey and potatoes, to at least 74°C before eating and bring gravy to a full, roiling boil, before serving.
For more information, visit
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/kitchen-cuisine/index-eng.php
