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FEATURE SCRIPT – Safe Holiday Cooking
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INTRODUCTION: U.S. Department of Agriculture officials are
reminding folks about the safe way to prepare the holiday feast. The USDA's Bob Ellison has more. (1:44)
Bob Ellison , USDA (voice-over):
USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond says Thanksgiving cooks should take necessary
steps to make sure their turkey is cooked to a safe internal temperature.
Dr. Richard Raymond, Under Secretary for Food Safety: Cook it to one hundred and sixty-five degrees
and you can rest assured that you've killed any foodborne pathogens that may have been present either on the
surface of the product or blended into the product. The only way you can tell if it's a hundred and sixty-five
degrees is to check that temperature with a thermometer.
Ellison (voice-over): And Raymond says to use a food thermometer even though a pop-up thermometer
may come with the turkey. USDA also advises to only cook stuffing outside the bird and then to at least
one hundred sixty-five degrees as well.
Dr. Raymond: Undercooking does allow food pathogens to survive and then they could grow and cause
human illness.
Ellison (voice-over): Also remember the food safety basics of clean, separate, cook and chill.
Dr. Raymond: Primarily, washing your hands before and after handling raw poultry products or
raw meat products so they don't cross-contaminate. It means cleaning the cutting surfaces or cutting boards
where you may have been slicing the meat when it was raw. It means cleaning the knives or utensils that touched
that raw poultry or raw meat product.
Ellison (voice-over): Also, don't put cooked food on uncleaned platters that held raw meat and
don't let cooked food come in contact with raw meat or the juices. And don't' leave cooked food out too long.
Dr. Raymond: Once food has been served it should be returned to the refrigerator unless it's
kept in a chafing dish to be kept hot or it's kept on ice to be kept cold. No food product should ever be
left out more than two hours after cooking or after preparation.
Ellison (voice-over): This Thanksgiving, USDA is encouraging everyone to be food safe.
For more information contact the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline, or get your Thanksgiving food
safety questions answered 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov. I'm Bob
Ellison for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.
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Last Modified:
November 15, 2007 |
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