Thanksgiving Food Safety Chat
November 23, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Home & Living
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 24) at 1 pm Eastern, join a live chat about Thanksgiving food safety at the Consumer Reports Safety blog! The live chat, hosted by Consumer Reports’ food safety expert Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., will cover Thanksgiving food preparation, including info on the safe handling of raw turkey, plus specific reader questions about the big meal.
Dr. Rangan will also discuss the meaning behind food labels, such as “hormone-free,” “natural,” “free-range” and “certified humane.” She is an expert on many topics, including organic standards, food safety issues, environmental pollution, toxins in consumer products and environmental health concerns. If you can’t make the live chat tomorrow, you can still read up on Thanksgiving food safety tips from the Consumer Reports Safety blog: Check out Talking turkey about food safety. Also, make sure you have a meat thermometer handy for checking the temperature of the turkey.
More Thanksgiving Food Safety Tips
According to the USDA, you should never buy a prestuffed fresh turkey. That’s asking for trouble! If you buy a fresh turkey, you should purchase it one to two days before cooking, but a frozen turkey may be purchased at any time, provided you have the storage space.
If you forget to thaw your turkey in the refrigerator, you can submerge the bird in cold water, changing it every 30 minutes. With that method, you should allow 30 minutes defrosting time for each pound of turkey.
The proper cooking temperature for turkey is 325 degrees F, and it’s done when the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees F. Check the temperature in several locations, including the thickest part of the breast and the innermost part of the thigh. If stuffing is cooked inside the bird, it should also reach 165 degrees F. Depending on the weight of your turkey, the cook time can range from 2 3/4 hours to 5 hours.
How Much Turkey to Buy
The USDA advises that you purchase one pound of bird per person for whole birds; for a boneless breast of turkey, purchase 1/2 pound per person; for breast of turkey, buy 3/4 pound per person; and for a prestuffed frozen turkey, allow for 1 1/4 pounds per person, keeping frozen until ready to cook.
You may reach the USDA Meat and Poultry hotline at 1-888-674-6854. Happy cooking!
(Image via flickr/Clemson)
