The United States Department of Agriculture provides specific guidelines for safe practices in food handling to prevent illness. Safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage are essential to prevent food borne illness. You can't see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may cause illness.
In every step of food preparation, follow the four steps of the Food Safe Families campaign:
Shopping
Storage
Preparation
Thawing
Cooking
Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (62.8 ºC) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures.
Ground meats: Cook all raw ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71.1 ºC) as measured with a food thermometer.
Poultry: Cook all poultry to an internal temperature of 165 °F (73.9 °C) as measured with a food thermometer.
Serving
Leftovers
Refreezing
Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen before or after cooking. If thawed by other methods, cook before refreezing.
This holiday season, be a great host and as you prepare the feasts to feed your family and guests, don’t forget to keep lots of DIGESTIVE+++ readily available for those who tend to overdo it!