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Thanksgiving buffet safety tips to send your family home with leftovers, not Listeria.
Thanksgiving is all about gathering together for a meal with families, friends, and found family. Every family is unique, each bringing their own style and dishes to the menu.
Whether you choose turkey or ham. Or both! Be it roasted, smoked, or fried. Whether you make stuffing or dressing. Jellied cranberry sauce or a fruit compote. Or the many variations of all the dishes you can think of for this holiday meal.
I can imagine the aim is to make it memorable. Make it tasty. And make it enjoyable.
After the bounty is consumed and the last bite is taken, plan to send your family home with leftovers. Not Listeria.
A few simple Thanksgiving buffet safety precautions can go a long way to help keep people healthy, happy, and ready to do it again the next month.
As you plan your meal, consider making multiple small platters to keep food from sitting out, regularly taking hot temperatures, promptly store leftovers, understand that fresh is best, watch the clock, and other Thanksgiving buffet safety tips for the big day this year.
The longer food sits out, the more likely bacteria will grow to infectious numbers. If you aren’t sure how quickly people will eat, keep buffet serving portions small. Prepare a few small platters or dishes ahead of time and replace them as needed.
Keep the extra cold food dishes in the refrigerator and keep extra hot food dishes in the oven set between 200° F and 250° F.
This way, whether Aunt Nancy is the first to get there or the last to arrive, her meal is safe.
Be sure that food stays outside of the danger zone. This is the range of 40° F to 140° F. In this sweet spot, bacteria have an ideal temperature to grow exponentially.
Hot foods should be kept at 140° F or warmer.
Use chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays to keep food in the safe zone.
Cold foods should be kept at 40° F or colder.
Keep cold foods refrigerated until just before serving. Place plates of cold food on ice to help keep it cold longer.
If you took my advice and prepared several small platters of food, you deserve a high five! But you are going to need to take that just one step further.
Instead of refilling food to a serving dish that has been sitting out, replace them with freshly filled ones.
Any bacteria on the plate, already present in the food or added from people’s hands throughout the meal, can multiply rapidly at room temperature.
It might mean more dishes to clean. But you are likely going to have a full sink anyway. If a few more means keeping your family safe, it will be well worth the time.
Any perishable left out at room temperature for more than two hours should be discarded. If the ambient temperature is above 90° F, this drops to one hour.
This ticking timer doesn’t stop at the end of the meal. It applies to the leftovers and their transit time too! Be sure leftovers are refrigerated as soon as guests arrive home and/or within two hours.
Life was different way back when. And some of the passed down recipe cards reflect that reality.
Some of the generational holiday recipes like salad dressings, custards, eggnog, and such may contain raw or lightly cooked eggs.
Not a good idea.
Eggs are associated with Salmonella and other harmful germs and can be dangerous to consume if not fully cooked. Especially by those at higher risk for foodborne illness. This includes pregnant women, young children, older adult, and anyone who may have a weakened immune system.
The FDA has a few egg-celent tips to tweak these recipes, including:
“Add the eggs to the amount of liquid called for in the recipe, then heat the mixture until it reaches 160° F on a food thermometer.” OR “Use store-bought products of the foods listed above, which are often already cooked or pasteurized. (Check the label to be sure.)” OR “Purchase pasteurized eggs.”
Bacillus cereus, Salmonella, and E. coli are some of the common germs that top the list of uninvited guests at your Thanksgiving meal. Follow along as I describe these worst offenders, what foods they frequent, and what to expect if they crash the party.
This bacterium is known to hang out in starchy foods like rice and potato dishes. But it can also be found in soups and sauces.
This bad bug produces a toxin. Depending on if the toxin is present in the food or if it is produced after you ingest the bacteria, different symptoms and/or illness onset may be observed.
If toxins are present in the food, most people will begin feeling nauseated and vomiting between 30 minutes to six hours. If bacteria are present, but not yet producing the toxin, diarrheal symptoms (usually watery) along with abdominal cramps will begin in six to 15 hours.
Most of the time, illness passes within 24 hours.
Undercooked poultry, as well as vegetables, eggs, nuts, and sprouts are key foods at risk for Salmonella.
Most people experience diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps, and/or vomiting between six hours and six days after exposure.
People usually feel better in about a week (four to seven days).
Ground beef, raw milk and juice, and raw fruits and vegetables are commonly hijacked food.
People usually begin feeling sick in around three to four days. However, some people take a bit longer to experience symptoms.
Common symptoms include diarrhea (often bloody), severe stomach pain, and vomiting with little or no fever.
Most people begin to feel better within five to seven days. Unless they develop a type of kidney complication caused by the bacterial toxin. This condition, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) can develop about a week after initial symptoms. Signs of HUS include decreased urine production, dark-colored urine, paleness in cheeks and inside lower eyelids. People with HUS require hospitalization.
As you pack up those doggy bags, foil containers, and Tupperware, send your guests home with leftovers. Not Listeria or some other memorable parting gift.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Thanksgiving Buffet Safety Tips to Send Your Family Home with Leftovers, Not Listeria,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)
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