How to Not Kill Your Family Over the Holidays | Episode 95

In episode 95 of Don't Eat POOP! A Food Safety Podcast, Matthew Regusci and I are sharing some food safety tips for safe holiday cooking.

There are a lot of holiday parties this time of year, and you don't want to spend most of the time on your knees in the bathroom with your head over the toilet.

So, tune in to learn how to protect yourself, your family, and your friends from foodborne illnesses this holiday season.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE.

In this episode:

• [01:29] The need for food safety around the holidays
• [02:08] A career created out of vomit and diarrhea
• [03:28] The evolution of food safety training 
• [12:59] The importance of being safe when cooking for others
• [16:23] How to not kill your loved ones during the holidays
• [17:13] Step 1: Clean and sanitize your kitchen
• [20:45] One thing you must not do
• [21:35] Step 2: Separate to avoid cross-contamination
• [25:27] Step 3: Use a thermometer to cook meat and poultry
• [25:57] How to calibrate your thermometer
• [27:00] How to thaw your turkey safely
• [28:07] Step 4: Storing, refrigerating, and reheating food guidelines
• [31:23] Quick reminder for happy holidays

If you would like to keep yourself and your family from ending up on the toilet with a bucket, follow these instructions. (If you don’t like your family, feel free to do the opposite)

Step 1: Clean and sanitize your kitchen

It is very important to clean and sanitize your kitchen both before you start cooking and as you cook.

Make sure to often wash your hands and the surfaces (counters and sink) you use.

To properly sanitize your kitchen, you can use: 

• Hypochlorous acid (HOCl)
• Diluted bleach, which you can make by mixing 5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) of bleach per gallon of room temperature water or 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of room temperature water

Don’t forget to also wash and clean the dishes you’re going to use and the dishes you’re going to present in, especially if they’ve been stored for some time.

One thing you must not do

!!! DO NOT WASH MEAT AND POULTRY !!!

Salmonella, Campylobacter, and other harmful bacteria live on raw meat and poultry, and they can be easily transferred to other surfaces and food in your kitchen, so there are a lot of opportunities for cross-contamination.

Washing or rinsing raw meat and poultry may prove worse because it helps the bacteria spread even more. When you add water, you give these bacteria a way to travel through your kitchen through splashing and aerosolizing.

This means that every time you wash raw meat and poultry, you are contaminating your kitchen and putting your family at risk of a foodborne illness.

Also, washing, rinsing, or brining meat and poultry in salt water, vinegar, or lemon juice does not destroy bacteria, so ultimately, it does more harm than good.

So, don’t wash your meat and poultry, or you’ll just be undoing all the good you did when you cleaned and sanitized the space.

Step 2: Separate to avoid cross-contamination

You want to separate eggs, meat, poultry, and seafood so that all of those raw juices don't co-mingle with other foods and make people sick.

NEVER use the same plate for ready-to-eat food that you have put raw food on. For example, don’t put cooked burgers on the same plate you used to take the raw meat over to the grill.

Cutting Boards

When cutting food, make sure to have a specific cutting board for cooked food, one for raw meat and poultry, and one for fruits and vegetables. (You can even get color-coded plastic cutting boards to help)

When it comes to wood cutting boards, you must be vigilant because not all wood is good for cutting boards. So, make sure it’s made of hardwood before you buy it. Also, don’t use it for raw meat and poultry, only for cooked food or fruits and vegetables.

Be careful because as cutting boards get cut on over and over again, they can start to harbor bacteria and pathogens.

The tip is to make sure to wash, rinse, and sanitize your cutting board regularly, no matter the material. 

As your wood or plastic cutting board gets worn down (full of grooves), you should either refinish or replace it.

Step 3: Use a thermometer to cook meat and poultry

Cooking your meat and poultry to the right temperature is key to preventing foodborne illnesses.

The only way to know for sure if your food has reached a high enough temperature to destroy foodborne bacteria is by using a thermometer.

The safe minimum internal temperature for:

• Beef, pork, veal, and lamb steaks, chops, and roasts is 145 °F (62.8 °C)
• All poultry is 165 °F (73.9 °C) – remember that the stuffing must also reach this temperature
• Eggs is 160 °F (71.1 °C)
• Fish and shellfish is 145 °F (62.8 °C)
• Leftovers is 165 °F (73.9 °C)

How to calibrate your thermometer

The problem is that this method only works if your thermometer is properly calibrated otherwise, it might say the safe temperature has been reached when, in fact, it hasn’t.

So, here’s how you can calibrate your thermometer:

•  First, you need to know if your thermometer is calibrated or not. So, create an ice-water slurry. Fill three-quarters of a cup or a glass with crushed ice and complete with water.
•  Stick the thermometer in the cup or glass and make sure it’s not touching the sides or the bottom. If the thermometer is calibrated, it’ll read 32 °F (0 °C).
• If it doesn’t read the correct temperature, you’ll need to reset the thermometer. If your thermometer is digital and has a reset button, push it until the temperature reaches 32 °F (0 °C). If you have a bimetallic thermometer, you will have to adjust the bolt in the back.
• Make sure your thermometer is inside the ice-cold water while you reset the temperature, or the calibration will be incorrect.

Now that you know this, you’ll be able to cook meat and poultry safely.

Step 4: Storing, refrigerating, and reheating food guidelines

Food needs to be stored below 41 ºF (5 ºC) and above 135 ºF (57.2 ºC).

Beware the temperatures between 70 ºF (21.1 ºC) and 125ºF (51.6 ºC) – which is the temperature of your home – because they are the pathogen party zone. Between these temperatures, bacteria grow and multiply very rapidly, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes.

This means that if you let any food sit out for long periods of time, you will have increased the risk of those pathogens and the bacteria growing and multiplying to dangerous levels.

‼️ So, the recommendation is to NEVER leave food at room temperature for more than 2 HOURS. ‼️ 

This holiday season, as your holiday meal drags along for hours (as a good celebration usually does), make sure to wrap up the food and put it away before the 2-hour mark. Get it out later and reheat it as needed. It’s just not worth the risk of somebody getting sick.

For safe reheating, bring the food up to a minimal internal temperature of 165 °F or until hot and steaming. In the microwave oven, cover the food and rotate it so it heats evenly.

How to thaw your turkey safely

The best and safest ways to thaw your turkey:

• Don’t thaw it. Buy it fresh, not frozen.
• Stick it in the refrigerator days ahead of time.

Other acceptable methods:

• Don’t thaw it. Cook it from frozen.
• Thaw in the microwave (though it’s probably not going to taste very good).

Ways that are not safe and can lead to a foodborne illness:

• Leave it in the sink.
• Leave it on the counter or cutting board.
• Cook it in the dishwasher (didn’t work for the salmon, doesn’t work for the turkey either).

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