It seems there is always a rash of articles on food safety this time of year. There is good reason for this. Food born illnesses are more prevalent during this time of year than any other. Large holiday feasts can be an opportunity for disaster. Not only are people cooking for days at a time and trying to store uncooked and cooked foods for serving at a later date, but ingredients are being pulled out of the cupboard that haven't been used since last holiday season. It's always a good idea to review food safety guidelines before diving into your holiday cooking.
Here is a list of some basic principles and some links to places with even more detail, if you so desire.
Product Selection
Always completely defrost large poultry (turkey, chicken, goose) in your refrigerator. An even better choice is to purchase them fresh and not frozen. Fresh tastes better and you don't have to stress about finding ice chunks in your bird the morning of the event.
Check the sell by and expiration dates on all the ingredients you use. This includes items you pull from your pantry and items purchased at the store. Some retail grocers will attempt to sell last year's holiday food items to the unwise shopper. Be savvy!
Don't purchase raw meats too early, unless you are going to freeze them. All animal products suffer from being frozen and defrosted. They break down a little, the texture suffers and you have added another step to preparation - defrosting! If you can avoid freezing,do!
Preparation
Always wash your equipment (knife, cutting board, counters and your hands) with hot soapy water after preparing any raw animal product (poultry, meat, fish, eggs, sausages, etc). All animal products carry bacteria and should be handled with caution.
A great way to prevent cross contamination (bacteria from meat products invading other foods) is to use specialized cutting boards for each specific use (i.e. red for meat; green for vegetables).
Wash all vegetables and fruits before their use. This removes not only dirt, but bacteria and pesticides from the surface of the product.
By preparing your vegetables and fruits before raw animal products, you can eliminate cross contamination all together!
Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. hey must stay out of the danger zone (40-140F) where bacteria multiply very rapidly.
Keep cold foods on ice baths and hot foods on hot plates (or chafing dishes or a bain marie if you are going to leave them out for more than two or three hours.
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