With the holiday season fast approaching, food safety advocates are raising red flags over risks of food poisoning. Using recently updated estimates of aggregate costs, the report concludes the burden of foodborne illness totals around three billion dollars each year in the United States alone. In total, 18 million people—four million of them Americans—are impacted each holiday season. This spike is most pronounced at Christmas and New Year’s.
Lydia Buchtmann, a food safety communicator, warns people about the risks of popular festive food, especially the classic Christmas Ham. She cautions that ham is in fact a favorite holiday treat. Inadequate storage and mishandling may pose hazardous health threats, including exposure to harmful bacteria and viruses. Of course, Buchtmann warns, you should never leave ham on the counter for an extended period. It’s only safe to eat after a few days’ worth are prepared at most.
“Wrap it up in, I’d get something called a ham-bag which is sort of just a cloth bag you can put it in,” Buchtmann suggests. Get that cotton cloth completely soaked, using vinegar and water solution, so one liter of water with 2 tablespoons of vinegar mixed in. Remember to keep that cloth damp so it doesn’t dry up. Keep it in the refrigerator, and don’t forget to replace it every three days!
Food safety is especially important around the holidays when many of us are hosting friends and family and cooking for more people usually means bigger batches of food. Buchtmann cautions against the practice of letting dishes sit too long. The goal is to release them in small bites on a rolling basis. It’s dangerous to serve a dip or a brie and then pile other grocery bag food on top pulled from the refrigerator. This creates the opportunity for cross-contamination or spoilage. “Try to pour out small amounts and keep the rest in the fridge for later,” she recommends. Just be sure to swap it out every hour or two.
Consumers don’t realize that they are increasing their own risk of food poisoning with unsafe handling practices. Alarmingly, one out of every two adults that prepare raw chicken wash it before cooking. Buchtmann explains that this practice is hazardous. Now this is super dangerous, because all poultry is washed in the processing so you really don’t need to do that. If you wash it, you’re going to splash it right around the kitchen and you’re going to get bacteria everywhere. Especially salmonella, which causes a truly awful experience of food poisoning.
Careful handling of meats applies here too and one should be vigilant as well. When checking cooked meats, they should have an internal temperature of 75 degrees Celsius as measured with a thermometer. This includes products such as mince and sausages, which are often the centerpiece of Christmas meals.
Furthermore, Buchtmann cautions against wearing gloves if they are not changed regularly. People tend to leave them on way too long,” she says. Hence, we actually believe it’s superior if you simply wash your hands very regularly. And, as always, thoroughly wash your hands before you prepare any food. That’s even more critical if you’ve been working with high-risk foods such as raw ground meat or raw poultry.
With cooking and baking at an all-time high demand this season, the refrigerator is truly a key player in food safety. Maintaining a home refrigerator at 5 degrees Celsius or lower is important to slow bacteria. An inexpensive infrared thermometer is one tool that can help you keep an eye on this temperature fast and easy.
Along with responsible refrigeration practices, mindful practice with food portions is critical. Serve food in very small amounts (especially high-calorie foods). Keep whatever you can’t eat immediately in the fridge so it doesn’t go bad.
Food poisoning isn’t just an inconvenience. It can kill you. This is particularly important for vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. Buchtmann wants to remind anyone who might brush off food poisoning as an inconvenience that it can and does get serious. It’s more than just a funny tummy. It’s actually gross. And it can make you really ill. Without a well-functioning immune system, even minor injuries can have life-threatening consequences. This threat is equally true for pregnant women and our frail elderly.
While families prepare for large celebratory dinners during this season of harvest, they need to be aware of food safety. By equipping themselves with this knowledge, they can ensure their festivities remain merry and disease-free.
