Holiday Feast: Your. Keeping it Safe. Food Protection Connection. by Melissa Vaccaro, MS, CHO. Nutrition & Foodservice Edge

Transcription

1 Food Protection Connection 1 HOUR SAN CE CBDM Approved Your by Melissa Vaccaro, MS, CHO Holiday Feast: Keeping it Safe 14 Nutrition & Foodservice Edge

2 The lights, sounds, and songs of the season enhance our memories of the holidays. We all know our senses play an important part in creating memories. Many of us associate the holidays with the smells and tastes of traditional family foods that are only made at this time of year. The aroma of roasting turkey, baking cookies, and other delicious foods create good feelings of home and togetherness. But there is one sure way to ruin those fond memories having your family or guests get sick after that great-tasting meal you served them. It s not exactly a memory you ll want to put on a Christmas card. Meal preparation during the holiday season requires extra planning, and all it takes is someone forgetting basic food safety practices and your trip over the river and through the woods won t be to grandma s house it will be to the E.R. Whether you re preparing a holiday meal for nursing home residents, school children, restaurant patrons, or for your family and friends, you need to plan ahead and plan properly. Like many, I grew up going to holiday dinner at my grandmother s house. I was always in awe of the multitude of smells and volumes of food in her little kitchen. It seemed like a Christmas Miracle that she could make all that food for our entire family. When I was asked to host the extended family dinner for the first time as a young adult many years ago, all I could think about was how am I going to do this? I learned quickly that it s all about planning ahead. I also learned it s easy to forget about food safety when you are thinking of a dozen other things that you want to be perfect for your holiday meal. The same basic practices apply for keeping your food safe whether you re serving your family or feeding a large crowd. Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. It all starts with advance planning and remembering a few vital things with regards to certain types of popular holiday food. Know how many people you are serving not just because you need to know if you can fit that crowd in your home or establishment, but also so you can lay out your plan of attack for your menu and food safety, too. An easily forgotten detail when planning is to give consideration for food deliveries or shopping trips. Ensure you have enough space to store all foods safely until it s time to prepare them. Remember: one contaminated ingredient means sick guests. Carefully consider your refrigerator, freezer, and oven space. Sometimes we forget our refrigeration and freezer units are not bottomless like Santa s bag. Our storage and cooking units are limited in how much they can hold, so plan carefully and don t over-stuff them. Do not rely on cold outdoor temperatures on the porch or in the garage to keep your food cold. Mother Nature is not only fickle and unreliable, she doesn t care if that giant ham you left on the porch goes out of temperature in her sudden mid-december warm snap. Holidays are frequently about large quantities of food. So, if you are feeding a larger crew than normal, how exactly will you cook all that food? Can you do it all in one day or do you need to pre-cook some of your items? Just because your spread is going to be larger, doesn t mean your oven got bigger too. Plan how to handle potentially limited oven space or stovetop burners. It s a good idea to write down your plan and timeframe. Start by listing the at-risk foods you ll be getting and where you will store them before cooking. Next, write down when you will begin cooking which foods, taking care to note where, when, and how items will be completed. This not only helps ensure everything will be cooked to temperature by the time you want and need them done, it also helps ensure you ve got enough space to cook everything. Additionally, figure out how you will keep foods temperature controlled once they are finished cooking and you ve moved on to the next item going into the oven. Even large foodservice facilities can make this mistake. In all of the chaos and excitement of preparing a holiday meal for a larger crowd or with items you don t usually cook, don t forget to consider how all that food is going to be kept hot before serving. If you need 50 turkeys, but you can only cook 25 at a time, do you have room to hot hold 25 turkeys while the others are cooking? No matter how big or small your kitchen or the volume of food you are preparing, pre-planning is the key to success. There s a wealth of information on the Web about holiday meal cooking. But some basics are essential to remember during the busy holiday season, whether at home or in a foodservice facility. Continued on page 16 November-December

3 Continued from previous page Frequent and proper hand washing is a key element and is one of the easiest ways to prevent contamination of food. Be mindful of where your hands have been. If there is any chance they have become contaminated, stop and wash them. Disorganized kitchens are hard to keep clean. They lead to cross-contamination and sanitation issues. Wash all fresh produce before cutting, chopping, or processing. Deal with your raw animal foods in a separate space or at a different time than your ready-to-eat foods. Thoroughly clean and sanitize between raw and ready-to-eat foods to avoid cross-contamination. Cloths and sponges must be kept clean and sanitary or they will spread bacteria all over the kitchen. Safe areas will suddenly be contaminated. In foodservice facilities, store wiping cloths in properly mixed approved sanitizer. At home, avoid use of t-towels. Use paper towels during the holidays. At home, kitchen sponges should be sanitized. An easy trick is to place your damp sponge (squeeze out all the soap) in the microwave for 1 minute to sanitize it. Be sure everyone handling food is healthy and not exhibiting any signs or symptoms of stomach distress. Keep It Clean Keep yourself and your kitchen clean. Good hygiene and kitchen sanitation is imperative for controlling foodborne pathogens and avoiding cross contamination. Prepare for More Food Volume Be sure your kitchen can handle the volume of food you plan to prepare, cook, and serve before you commit to doing it. Develop your menu ahead of time. Include quantities of food to purchase. Determine which foods will be stored in the refrigerator, freezer, or on shelves. Ask yourself, can my kitchen and equipment handle this amount of food? Also ask, can I cook all of this food at one time? Do I need to cook in stages? Do I have enough oven space to cook and hot hold my food? Do I need hot holding units such as crockpots and electric roasting pans? Watch for Sickness The holiday season is also the cold and flu season. So, while the holidays are a time for sharing, make sure that doesn t include cold germs. Be sure everyone handling food is healthy and not exhibiting any signs or symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. 16 Nutrition & Foodservice Edge

4 Answers to FPC Review Questions CDMs who answer the FPC Review Questions on page 20 of this issue can check their responses against the answer key found on page 46. This self check allows you to confirm your understanding of the test questions. Thaw it right Whether you are serving turkey, beef, or pork frozen meat must be thawed properly. Start thinking about thawing your meats 2-5 days before the event. Most packaging includes recommended thawing times per pound. Read labels. Thaw in the refrigerator for several days. Usually 24 hours for every 5 pounds of meat. Never thaw food on the counter. Do not thaw foods outside or in a cold garage. The temperatures are variable and unreliable. Keep turkey in its original wrapping when thawing. This protects it from contamination. You can thaw turkey in cold tap water. Keep it in the original sealed packaging and place in a clean and sanitized sink or pan. Submerge in cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Thawing takes about 30 minutes per pound. This method should only be used if you plan to cook the turkey immediately after it s thawed. Cook to Temperature You may think you re in a rush to get that special meal out on time, but it s nothing like the rush you ll be in to get to the nearest restroom if some items aren t cooked to temperature. You may think you can eyeball the turkey to tell if it s done, but always use a food thermometer. There is no other way to accurately tell if the turkey, stuffing, and side dishes have all been fully cooked without one. Too many times, especially at home, we tend to rely on the look of the food to determine doneness. This is simply inaccurate and unreliable. Most foods need to be cooked to 165 F. Whatever your holiday meat of choice, it must be fully cooked. Continued on page 18 November-December

5 Continued from previous page Visit for various meat cooking temperatures. Never rely on pop-up timers. Do not rely only on the packaging time and temperature cooking recommendations. Use them as a guideline when planning, but always verify your final cook temperature with a good kitchen thermometer. Always verify final cook temperatures in the thickest part of the food. Check in several locations throughout the product. For turkey, pull the leg away from the body of the meat. Check the temperature under the leg, but into the lower breast meat. Check both sides of the bird. Check the breast meat that is more to the top (head) of the bird as well. Stuff it Right If you are going to stuff your bird, the USDA recommends preparing the stuffing immediately before putting it in the bird. If you want to prepare stuffing ahead of time, cook it to 165 F first, cool and refrigerate. Stuff the bird just before placing it in the oven. Be sure both the stuffing and meat are at 165 F. After verifying the meat temperature is 165 F or above, put your thermometer into the stuffing at the deepest and thickest part of the stuffed cavity. Be sure within the cavity of the bird that the interface between the meat and stuffing is fully cooked before removing it from the oven. Do not rely on post oven temperature rise to bring the meat and stuffing to 165 F. Stuffing made with raw meat, poultry, or shellfish should be precooked before being placed into the cavity of the bird. Stuff poultry immediately before cooking. Do not overstuff. Keep the stuffing loosely packed to ensure it cooks entirely through. If you purchase a pre-stuffed turkey, make sure it s frozen and bears the USDA or state seal of inspection. Keep the turkey frozen until you are ready to cook it. Do not thaw frozen pre-stuffed birds. They should go into the oven frozen and be cooked to 165 F or above. Observe the Two Hour Rule Potentially hazardous foods should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours. By the two hour point, you need to be thinking about portioning and cooling your leftovers. Set an alarm in the kitchen to go off 1.5 hours after food has been removed from the ovens and placed on the tables for service. In the chaos of the day, time will go quickly and before you know Many desserts contain raw egg or lightly cooked egg and are not shelf stable. Others contain cream, milk, cheese, and other potentially hazardous foods. it, two hours will have passed. Leftover food can be a great treat the next day, but if you re going to keep leftovers, keep track of how long foods have been sitting on the table. Grandma s secret recipe dish might be even better the day after Thanksgiving, but it s not worth a day in the hospital from food poisoning. Potentially hazardous foods must cool quickly. They need to pass through the food temperature danger zone fast. Discard any food that has been sitting out (in the danger zone) for an undetermined amount of time. If food is not temperature controlled during the serving period at below 41 F or above 135 F (time as a public health control), begin cooling leftovers within two hours of serving. 18 Nutrition & Foodservice Edge

6 By the four hour mark, you want all potentially hazardous foods to be at 41 F or below. Do not stuff refrigeration units full of hot or warm foods. Foodservice facilities familiar with the various FDA cooling parameters can follow and should document those cooling steps. Foodservice facilities serving family style may not re-use any foods left at a table. Platters or plates of foods not consumed on personal tables must be discarded even if it appears no one served themselves from a full bowl of food. Once with a consumer, leftovers must be discarded. Re-heat leftovers to a safe 165 F. Don t Forget Side Dishes Holiday meals are not all about the meat. Casseroles, cooked vegetables, potatoes, and similar all need to be kept out of the danger zone. If you are serving food buffet style, provide utensils for all dishes. Do what you can to avoid your guests picking at food from the buffet with their fingers. It s very easy in a home setting for guests to pick at food before dinner. Keep foods covered prior to meal time. Provide hors d oeuvres for sampling. This will keep your guests sticky fingers out of the food. Pay attention to Desserts Many desserts contain raw egg or lightly cooked egg and are not shelf stable. Others contain cream, milk, cheese, and other potentially hazardous foods. Homemade cream pies, cakes with whipped cream, cream cheese frostings, cheesecake, pumpkin pies, and similar all need to be kept refrigerated at 41 F or below. The two hour rule applies to these types of desserts as well. Many store-bought desserts have preservatives and are shelf stable. Always follow the packaging recommendations for pre-purchased desserts. Do not eat raw cookie dough! Do not make homemade ice cream with raw unpasteurized shell eggs unless the recipe calls for a cook step of the cream/ egg mixture. Do not store desserts that require refrigeration in a cool garage or outside. Just like with meat storage, potentially hazardous foods need to be kept at 41 F or below. Make it Pasteurized Use only pasteurized apple cider and juices. Do not use or make eggnog with unpasteurized eggs. Many recipes are available for cooking eggnog or using pasteurized egg products. The logistics of holiday meal planning can be challenging, but you must focus on what it takes to make a safe holiday meal. Think ahead and pre-plan. Jot a list of things you need to do the days leading up to the meal, making sure to include on that list food safety controls such as temperatures, times, storage space, hot holding space, cold holding space, and other food safety notes you may forget in the hustle and bustle of the day. Take these simple precautions to make sure your holiday memories include safe and delicious food. j Melissa Vaccaro, MS, CHO is a Food Program Specialist for the PA Department of Agriculture and an Executive Board Member for the Central Atlantic States Association of Food and Drug Officials (CASA). Contact her at mvaccaro86@ gmail.com Dietary Manager Independent Study Program Nationally recognized as the best on-the-job training program available for food service professionals. Learn at your own pace Meet criteria for qualifying dietary managers Qualify for membership in ANFP Receive a solid foundation FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Distance Learning 282 Thach Concourse Foy Hall Auburn, AL audl@auburn.edu November-December