Practice safe food preparation to prevent Thanksgiving foodborne illness

(KBSI) – Thanksgiving is almost here and as families start to prepare thanksgiving dinner it’s important to remember food preparation safety.

Shawnna Rhine, outreach coordinator of Southern 7 Health Department gives tips on preventing foodborne and air borne illnesses over the holidays.

“Make sure you’re washing your hands, your washing utensils, cutting boards or anything that you’re going to be using at that time and keeping those clean to avoid any cross contamination of that bacteria.” 

Rhine also says that it’s not necessary to wash your turkey, and that washing it actually contributes to the growth of bacteria being spread on surfaces.

“Typically, it takes about 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds of turkey and again you want to make sure you’re doing so as safely as you possibly can, says Rhine, the best recommendation is to keep it in your fridge and to monitor that way so if you’ve got a 15-16 pound turkey you want to allow about 3-4 days to defrost that.” 

You can also defrost your turkey in cold water or in the microwave, but you should take extra precaution in cleaning, so you don’t spread salmonella or cross contaminate on services.  

You can also defrost your turkey in cold water or in the microwave, but you should take extra precaution in cleaning, so you don’t spread salmonella or cross contaminate on services.  

Thanksgivings often brings families together but that can also mean spreading germs in large crowds. Its  important to continue to wash your hands often, cover your cough and have an open ventilated area for your guests.  

You can still get your rsv, flu or covid booster at you nearest health department.