I just want to remind you that although we can all enjoy the holidays, we cannot take a holiday from food safety. This applies to what you do for your families as well as your customers.
The three ways food becomes unsafe are:
- Time-temperature abuse
- Cross-contamination
- Poor personal hygiene
Although we can relax the rules a bit at home (I don't wear a hairnet preparing turkey dinner for my family!) we still need to follow the basics.
- Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Food should not remain in the temperature danger zone (41-135 degrees F.) for more than four hours. Basically, if it is at room temperature for more than four hours, discard it. Remember the old saying: if in doubt, throw it out.
- Cook foods to the proper internal temperature. The only way to know for sure is to take the temperature; wiggling the leg just isn't certain enough.
- Clean and sanitize work surfaces and utensils between working with different types of food. If you are cleaning the turkey in the sink, clean and sanitize the sink after you are done.
- Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.
Incidentally, one reason we can relax the rules a bit at home is that if we do something wrong, it is only our immediately family and guests that may become ill. (I'm sure that will make them feel so much better!) If we do something wrong at our facilities, we could make all the residents and staff ill. Also, with residents and patients being at higher risk, they can become much more ill than our families. And, of course, we have legal and moral obligations to provide safe food to our customers.
I hope your all have a great Thanksgiving!
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