Festive food safety
City Council advice to ensure safe seasonal eating
(Date of issue: Monday, 12 December 2011)
Carlisle City Council is reminding local residents to follow
some simple safety steps this Christmas when preparing their
turkeys.
Many people aren’t used to cooking such a large meal so
remembering and sticking to the basic rules should mean food
poisoning is one less thing to worry about over Christmas.
Carlisle City Council is helping to promote the following Top 12
Turkey Tips:
1. Give your fridge and freezer a good clean before you stock up
for Christmas. Make more space by using up sauces and pickles
stored in the fridge (watch out for ‘best before’ dates
though).
2. Don't overstock your fridge or freezer - it makes it
difficult to maintain the right temperature. Food should be stored
separately in covered containers and properly wrapped.
3. Wash your hands frequently - especially before preparing or
touching food, and after touching raw food, coughing, sneezing or
touching pets.
4. Frozen turkeys or other poultry must always be fully thawed
in a cool clean place (preferably the fridge) before cooking. A
15lb turkey will take 24-28 hours to thaw in the fridge; allow over
2 days for a 25lb bird to defrost.
5. Do not rinse your poultry under the tap. This can splash
harmful bacteria already on the bird around the kitchen, leading to
the cross-contamination of other foods. Thorough cooking will kill
any bacteria present.
6. Use separate chopping boards and utensils or wash them
thoroughly to avoid cross-contamination between raw meat, and any
cooked or ready-to-eat foods.
7. Ideally, cook your stuffing separately, but if you feel you
must stuff the bird, make sure you take the stuffing weight into
account when calculating your cooking time.
8. Poultry, sausages and chopped and minced meat must always be
thoroughly cooked - check to make sure there are no pink bits in
the middle, that the juices run clear and that they are piping hot
throughout.
9. Do not use raw eggs in food that will not be cooked - such as
chocolate mousse or homemade mayonnaise – use pasteurised egg
instead.
10. Always try to serve hot food as soon as it is ready. If
there is a delay between heating and eating then keep the food
covered and piping hot.
11. Do not leave leftovers lying around - but make sure that hot
food cools quickly before putting it in the fridge. To speed
cooling: divide into smaller portions, place in shallow containers
or stand in a tray of cold water.
12. Avoid re-heating food more than once - if you reheat
leftovers make sure they’re piping hot throughout and don’t keep
leftovers for more than two days.
For more advice on Christmas food safety visit the NHS Live Well
website at www.nhs.uk/livewell