Food Safety Tips for Holiday Meals

The holidays are a time for family and friends to come together and celebrate. In most instances, that means that families share meals with one another. Whether it is practicing food safety when preparing the meal or reminding hosts about their guests' safety, here are some safe food handling reminders to ensure guests enjoy their holiday meal. These concepts are especially important if one of the guests has recently been diagnosed or is in active treatment for cancer. Cancer patients are immunodeficient and therefore are more likely to be susceptible to foodborne illness.

Separate: 

• Washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb, or veal before cooking it is not recommended. Bacteria in raw meat and poultry juices can be spread to other foods, utensils, and surfaces.
• Hand washing after handling raw meat or poultry or its packaging is a necessity because anything you touch afterwards could become contaminated.
• It is important to prevent cross-contamination from raw meat or poultry juices by washing counter tops and sinks with hot, soapy water. You may sanitize with a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water.
• Packaging materials from raw meat or poultry also can cause cross-contamination. Never reuse them. These and other disposable packaging materials, such as foam meat trays, egg cartons, or plastic wraps, should be discarded.
• Don't use the same platter and utensils that held the raw product to serve the cooked product. Any bacteria present in the raw meat or juices can contaminate the safely cooked product. Serve cooked products on clean plates, using clean utensils and clean hands.

Thawing:               

• Refrigerator: The refrigerator allows slow, safe thawing. Make sure thawing meat and poultry juices do not drip onto other food. Place item on a plate, and keep on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator.
• Cold water: For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof plastic bag. Submerge in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook immediately after thawing.
• Microwave: Cook meat and poultry immediately after microwave thawing. 

For those who choose to go out to a local restaurant to enjoy a holiday meal, here are some helpful tips to use when assessing a place to eat.

Eating Out and Food Safety:

When choosing where to eat out, evaluate if the restaurant is likely to follow all of the above food safety practices. 

While at an increased risk for foodbourne illness, avoid eating at:

• Salad bars,
• Buffets,
• Or trying samples, as these foods may have been left out for more time than recommended. 
• Similarly, food carts and street vendors may not be subject to the same regulation as restaurants, and therefore may not follow appropriate food safety practices.  

Information adapted from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service "Safe Food Handling Fact Sheet"

Content provided by the Joan Karnell Cancer Center