It's time for the usual doom and gloom articles about Thanksgiving food safety. The stats are grim: every day 200,000 Americans get sick from food-related illnesses, and since Thanksgiving is one of our major food holidays, the chances for food illness are high. The guidelines are basically the common sense stuff: don't defrost the turkey at room temperature, wash everything that gets the raw turkey juice on it and the big one that I am guilty of flouting each year: don't cook the stuffing inside the bird. It's also important to cook the turkey to an internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit to kill all of the bacteria.
This article from WTSP says that according to the ADA/ConAgra Foods survey, nearly three out of four Americans don't know the proper temperature to which a whole turkey should be cooked and more than half don't use a meat thermometer to ensure doneness. Instead we tend to rely on meat looking "done," taste tests, and wiggling the legs to see if it is cooked (I am also guilty as charged on that leg-wiggling thing). Reading articles like this before Thanksgiving always makes me feel a bit guilty, as if I'm some vaguely homicidal manic wielding a Wusthof Trident and an improperly sterilized cutting board. I washed my hands, really, I swear.
May is National BBQ Month and National Hamburger Month
Cupcakes, not for dessert (unless beef is your idea of a treat)
Because eating French Fries in the car is so tough
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-22-2005 @ 3:12PM
bill said...
"It's also important to cook the turkey to an internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit to kill all of the bacteria."
Where did this figure come from? Federal Food Code states that Poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165F and the USDA states an internal temperature of 160F.
I think 180 is a horrible thing to do to a good turkey. Talk about DRY!
Everyone should not only have a good thermometer, but also know how to calibrate it. No sense in having a watch is it's never right......learn to calibrate your thermometers.
Stuffing should also be cooked to an internal temperautre of 165......and not held in the temperautre danger zone (41-140F) for longer than 4 hours.
180! dear god man. that just sounds awful!
B
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11-23-2005 @ 9:53AM
kevin said...
My favorite argument in favor of putting the stuffing in the bird is: "Stuffing the bird isn't dangerous. I've been doing it for 30 years and I've never gotten sick."
This strikes me as akin to: "Planes don't crash. I've been flying for 30 years and I've never been killed."
One other note: if you insist on stuffing the bird make sure the center of the stuffing also reaches a temperature of 170F (or 180F) if you insist. A properly cooked bird doesn't insure properly cooked stuffing.
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