This holiday season, prevent the top cause of food borne illness from ruining the holiday spirit by turning it into “Holiday Blues”. To prevent this from happening, do not leave your food sitting out on the table or counter for any longer than it takes to get it into refrigeration. We must rapidly coot our leftovers to below 41 degrees and once it gets cold, before we re-serve the food, rapidly reheat the leftovers to 165 degrees within 2 hours (or faster if possible), and hold the temperature at 165° for 15 seconds before allowing the temperature to drop. This will destroy any bacteria that may have survived the trip into and out of the refrigerator. If you wish to eat cold refrigerated turkey, that is fine, but if you are going to reheat your cold turkey, do it as quickly as possible to 165° and only once. Never re-refrigerate food that has been reheated. Once food is cooked and refrigerated, it is now a leftover, and you only can reheat leftovers one time and one time only.
If you follow a few simple rules like, keep it cold, 41 degrees or below, or keep it hot at 135 degrees or above, you won’t be able to blame your stomach’s grumbling and tumbling on over-eating alone. It will most likely be the dreaded “Foodborne Illness”, Holiday Blues. Foodborne Illness is one of the leading causes of feeling flu-like symptoms during the holidays. Most bacteria multiply rapidly and will reach potentially harmful levels within just about four hours, if food is left at room or ambient temperature (on the counter). So, if your leftovers have been left out at room temperatures for around 4 hours, throw it out. “Rule of thumb”, four hours, toss it out! Your optimal temperature for holding hot food set out for hot hold or self serve, is 135 degrees and cold hold food set out must be kept below 41 degrees. If it rises above 41 degrees or falls below 135 degrees, the food is in the Danger Zone. How long do we keep the leftovers? Well there are various thoughts on this issue, but 3 to 4 days is max if food has been left out on the counter, on the serving table, brought home from the restaurant in the doggie bag, or for any extended period up to 4 hours. If it is out longer than 4 hours, I remind you, throw it out. Common sense will help prevail, but if your food is made fresh today, and was not left out for any time at all, then you can keep your freshly made food up to 7 days including the preparation day if it is held under 41 degrees. So enjoy your annual over indulgence and keep food safety in mind by avoiding the Holiday Blues attack of Foodborne Illness. Oh and remember to wash our hands for at least 20 seconds. Lets hold down the colds and flu, too.
