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FEATURE SCRIPT – USDA Says "Be Food Safe" For the Holidays
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INTRODUCTION: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's
"Be Food Safe" message is important during the holiday party season. USDA's Pat O'Leary has more.
TAG: For a free copy of "Cooking for Groups"
write FCIC 604-H Pueblo, CO 81009.
Pat O'Leary, USDA (voice-over):
Holiday party hosts may be full of good cheer, but short on experience in preparing food for large groups.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Be Food Safe" campaign can help prevent foodborne
illness from ruining your buffet. It all starts with: "clean, separate, cook and chill."
Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety: They're the four basics of good,
safe food preparation. Clean is primarily washing your hands, cutting surfaces, knives and other utensils.
Separate so you don't cross contaminate. Cooking has to be measured by a food thermometer — 165 °F for poultry 160 °F
for ground beef. And then chill — no food product should ever be left out for more than 2 hours after preparation.
O'Leary (voice-over): The experts say for holiday buffets keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
Diane Van, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: If you're transporting already cooked food
from one location to another, you want to make sure you keep it hot. Carry it in an insulated container. If you're
transporting cold foods, use a cooler with ice or a commercial freezing gel.
Chafing dishes, warming trays, slow cookers are all fine to keep very hot foods hot. But you don't want to re-heat
in them. They're just for maintaining that hot reheated temperature. Make sure that you get it hot and steamy,
165 degrees.
O'Leary (voice-over): You should also beware of raw eggs: never eat raw cookie dough,
and if you're serving eggnog made with raw eggs, make sure it's heated to steaming, or serve pasteurized eggnog.
For more information call the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline, or visit
AskKaren.gov. For the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I'm Pat O'Leary.
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Last Modified:
December 19, 2007 |
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