A safe and healthy holiday season includes safe food handling and cooking practices

KING COUNTY, WA - No matter how you intend to enjoy your holiday meal -- an intimate dinner or a potluck, a family gathering or a party with friends -- any holiday meal could be the cause of food borne illness if the food isn't handled safely.

"For many people, turkey will be part of their Thanksgiving celebration, and most of us have learned that turkeys must be carefully prepared and cooked to kill bacteria like salmonella which can be found in raw and undercooked turkey," said Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of Public Health - Seattle & King County. "But it is also important to remember that any foods you prepare, cook, and serve for your holiday need to be handled carefully in order to avoid food borne illness."

Here are the four most important food safety tips to make sure your holidays are full of delicious and safe foods:

1.	Wash your hands:
		Wash your hands with warm water and soap to get rid of the germs on your hands that can get into food and make people sick.
		Wash your hands before touching cooking utensils and before touching food that will not be cooked.
		Wash your hands after going to the bathroom, after touching raw meat, fish or poultry, and after taking out the garbage, sneezing, coughing, or smoking.
2.	Keep foods safe from cross contamination:
		Avoid cross contamination, which occurs when germs from raw or unclean foods get onto foods that will not be cooked or reheated before eating.
		Put raw poultry, meat and fish in the "meat" drawer of the refrigerator, or put them on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator so the juices don't drip on foods that won't be cooked. If your refrigerator has fruit and vegetable drawers under the bottom shelf, put your raw poultry, meat or fish in a container on the bottom shelf.
		Never store foods that won't be cooked before serving in the same container as raw poultry, meat or fish.
		Use a hard cutting surface with no splits or holes in it. Germs can grow in them.
		Wash, rinse and sanitize the cutting surface and all the utensils (like knives) every time you finish cutting raw poultry, meat, and fish, as well as melons. Household bleach is a good sanitizer. Use 1 tsp. for each gallon of cool water.
3.	Heat foods to their proper temperature:
		In order to kill all bacteria, cook turkey and other poultry to at least 165º F, ground beef to 155º F, pork to 150º F, and fish, shellfish, lamb and other beef to 140º F.
		Move foods quickly through the "danger zone," the temperature range where germs can grow most quickly and easily. Cold foods should be kept cold (lower than 45º F), and hot foods should be kept hot (above 140º F).
4.	Cool and reheat foods properly:
		Avoid improper cooling, the most common cause of food borne illness, since germs grow quickly and toxins can form.
		Do not cover hot food until it has cooled to 45º F or below.
		Reheating of food needs to be done as quickly as possible (within 1 hour).
		If food has been sitting at room temperature for up to 2 hours, refrigerate it or reheat it. If food has been sitting out for longer than 2 hours, throw it out.

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