Home for the Holidays: Preventing Foodborne Illness at Family Gatherings

Paula Kurtzweil Walter, US Food and Drug Admin.

Stephanie K. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin spent her Thanksgiving break at her grandparents' home—in bed, sick with what her family assumed was a stomach virus. But when her grandparents both came down with the same symptoms 12 hours later, some family members started to question whether the real culprit was their Thanksgiving dinner.

It certainly wouldn't be unheard of. Foodborne illness is a frequent uninvited guest during the holiday season, and it's often a food handler who allows it to come in and set up housekeeping.

Though most foodborne disease outbreaks don't occur during the holidays (they occur most often in the summer), the holidays warrant special attention because certain foods and food practices popular during the season can increase the risk for foodborne illness. But just as traditions prevail during the season, so, too, should they when it comes to keeping food safe at the holidays.

"It's the key health messages we talk about again and again," says Charles "Burt" Bartleson, technical expert for the Washington State Department of Health's food safety and shellfish program. The Fight BAC! campaign of the Partnership for Food Safety Education, of which the Food and Drug Administration is a member, sums up the key health messages this way:

• Clean: Wash hands and food-contact surfaces often. Bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen and get onto cutting boards, knives, sponges, and counter tops.
  
  
• Separate: Don't cross-contaminate—don't let bacteria spread from one food product to another. This is especially true for raw meat, poultry and seafood. Experts caution to keep these foods and their juices away from ready-to-eat foods.
  
  
• Cook: Cook to proper temperatures. Foods are properly cooked when they are heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness.
  
  
• Chill: Refrigerate promptly. Public health officials advise consumers to refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures keep most harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying. Refrigerators should be set at 40° F and the freezer at 0° F, and the accuracy of the settings should be checked occasionally with a thermometer.

Cooking Up a Spread

But the holidays don't always make it easy for food handlers to follow this advice. One reason, says Marjorie Davidson, Ph.D., FDA's director of food safety education, is that people get caught up in the hectic pace of the holiday season. "People get sloppy," she says. "They're busy, and they lose the vigilance that they might follow at other times of the year."

At the same time, she says, most consumers are dealing with foods they seldom prepare outside of the holiday season. "A lot of people just aren't familiar with cooking the big pieces of meat and poultry often served at this time of year," she says.

The amount of time to properly thaw and cook a whole turkey, for example, is much longer than the standard-size poultry pieces and cuts of meat served year-round. When thawed correctly in the refrigerator or at a temperature of no more than 40° F, a 20-pound turkey needs two to three days to thaw completely. Thawing the turkey completely before cooking is important. Otherwise, the outside of the turkey will be done before the inside, and the inside will not be hot enough to destroy disease-causing bacteria. A stuffed turkey needs 4¾ to 5¼ hours to cook completely. To check a turkey for doneness, insert a food thermometer into the inner thigh area near the breast of the turkey but not touching bone. The turkey is done when the temperature reaches 180° F. If the turkey is stuffed, the temperature of the stuffing should be 165° F.

Many people also may be unused to juggling at one time the large number of dishes that often go into a traditional holiday dinner. Though they should, few may consider whether they'll have adequate refrigerator space to store their planned menu items both before and after the dinner is served.

The party spreads and buffet dinners that often are a part of the holiday scene also pose unique challenges. How many times as a guest have you seen party and buffet foods sit out for hours on end? For safety's sake, perishable foods should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours.

The traditional advice applies: Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.

Holiday Specials

Add to these challenges favorite holiday foods that carry their own set of risks. Traditional eggnog made with raw eggs is a common one. Fresh eggs may contain bacteria that can cause an intestinal infection called salmonellosis. Cooking can destroy the bacteria. Safe alternatives are the pasteurized eggnog beverages sold in grocery dairy cases, although they, too, should be kept refrigerated.

The risk of illness from raw eggs is associated with another favorite holiday activity—baking. Eating cookie dough or batters with raw eggs carries the same risk as eggnog made with raw eggs. Commercial dough does not carry the same risk because it is made with pasteurized eggs—that is, eggs that have been heated sufficiently to kill bacteria. It also may contain an acidifying agent that kills bacteria. However, it is best to not eat raw cookie dough; instead enjoy your cookies after they have been properly cooked in the oven.

Advice for the Holidays

Even though the holidays present a number of unique food-safety challenges, consumers have plenty of places to go for good information on how to do things right. Among them:

• The Fight BAC! website, www.fightbac.org. 
  
• FDA's Food Information Line, toll-free 1-888-SAFEFOOD (1-888-723-3366)
  
• The USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline, 1-800-535-4555 (202-720-3333 in the Washington, D.C., area). The TTY number for the hearing impaired is 1-800-256-7072. The e-mail address is mphotline.fsis@usda.gov.

Most people would agree that the holidays are a special time for special activities, many of them food-related. Who would want to spoil the season by giving someone a foodborne illness? Though it certainly has been done in the past, it's one holiday tradition not worth keeping.