As the festive season approaches, health experts are raising alarms about the heightened risk of food poisoning during the Christmas and New Year period. Lydia Buchtmann, spokesperson for the Food Safety Information Council, stresses the importance of following safe food handling practices. With millions more to share a meal with her message, her work is more urgent than ever. Food poisoning has a significant impact on the Australian economy, costing an estimated three billion dollars annually. This year, Buchtmann is set on getting more than 4.67 million people averted from foodborne illnesses.
Surprisingly, the holiday season is a time of increased food poisoning. When families and friends come together to celebrate, they tend to prepare big batches of food. Failing to do so can result in unsafe conditions in the home kitchen. Turkey and chicken are the most frequent sources of foodborne illness during holiday feasts, and improper preparation can lead to major health risks.
“It’s not just a funny tummy, it really is nasty. And it can make you really ill. It can be life threatening if you have a poor immune system or if you’re pregnant or if you’re frail and elderly.” – Lydia Buchtmann
In fact, Buchtmann notes, more than half of all adults wash raw chicken before cooking it. It goes on to spread bacteria that can make others very sick, including salmonella, throughout the kitchen. Moreover, she cautions, poultry has already been rinsed in the course of processing, making further rinsing superfluous and dangerous.
“And a huge number of people, one in two people, adults who cook raw chicken said they actually wash it before they cook it. Now this is really risky, because firstly any poultry is washed in processing so you don’t need to do it. But if you wash it, you’re going to splash it right around the kitchen and you’re going to get bacteria everywhere.” – Lydia Buchtmann
Along with good poultry hygiene, Buchtmann recommends ensuring all meat is cooked to a minimum of 75 degrees Celsius. This suggestion applies to ground meats and hot dogs, too. What else can consumers do? Make sure at-home fridges are no warmer than 5 degrees Celsius to prevent bacterial growth.
To be extra safe, Buchtmann recommends regularly checking your fridge temperature with a thermometer. “It’s crucial to maintain the correct temperature in your fridge, and checking every few hours can help prevent foodborne illnesses,” she stated.
Another frequent holiday gathering mistake is leaving food out too long. Buchtmann warns against loading them up with big portions on day one. She suggests releasing food in smaller portions to reduce the chance of perishables going bad.
“The idea is to put them out in small servings at a time. It’s a real risk if you, say, put out a dip or you put a brie there or something and then you get more stuff out of the fridge and you put it on top. So, put out small amounts, leave the rest in the fridge and replace it every hour or so.” – Lydia Buchtmann
Special care should go into salads and vegetables, too. According to Buchtmann, vegans need to be particularly careful with summer salads – especially if left out of the fridge for too long.
“Most people leave them on way too long, so we actually think it is better if you just wash your hands quite often. And you need to wash your hands before you handle food and if you’ve been handling risky foods like raw meat and raw poultry.” – Lydia Buchtmann
Storing leftover ham poses another risk. Despite what you may have heard, ham cannot be eaten forever. Buchtmann suggests storing any remaining ham in a reusable cloth sack. Soaking the bag in vinegar-water solution helps protect the ham for up to a week or so longer.
“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. Or a clean cloth. Soak that cloth in a mixture of vinegar and water, so about a litre of water with two tablespoons of vinegar in it. And keep that cloth moist so it doesn’t dry out and keep it in the fridge and change it every three days or so.” – Lydia Buchtmann
