Holiday Safety Tips

By: Renell Grantham, CHST | Safety Committee Chair 2018-2019 

With the holiday season fast approaching there are items that sometimes get overlooked during all of hustle and bustle of family time, cooking and gift buying: the hazard of food borne illnesses, kitchen fires, or even house fires caused by the lights on your Christmas tree. I hope that I can give you some information in this article to prevent you and the employees at your company from experiencing the tragedy of these types of things from ruining your holiday season. I am going to concentrate on food safety since that is where the most misconceptions seem to lie and the least amount of information seems to be put out every year.

1.The top shelf of the refrigerator is the worst place to store your raw turkey or ham. As they thaw, the juices can drip down onto the food that is on the lower shelves, contaminating them.                                                                     

2. It is important to wash your fruits and vegetables, even if they are going to be peeled, to prevent bacteria that may be on the skin from contaminating the knife or peeler and getting onto the peeled item or counter tops. The best way to clean your fruits and vegetables is to use cold running water.

3. Believe it or not, the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not suggest washing/rinsing your raw turkey before cooking. It can cause germs to spread in small water droplets around the kitchen that contain bacteria, but if the turkey is placed in the oven as is, then the bacteria will be killed during the cooking process.

4. Most people think that leaving the food on the table for grazing is safe. The thing is that for 2-3 hours it is, but time tends to get away from you when you are having a great time with your family, so the sooner you put the food away the safer your family is. You can always pull the food out as people get hungry or have a second meal after Black Friday shopping.

5. One thing to remember and maybe one of the biggest things to remember is that food does not have to smell bad to be spoiled. Yes, that can be an indication, but the smell is not always present. The best way to keep your family safe from food borne illness is to make sure that you follow safe preparation suggestions and make sure that food is not left out too long.

Have a wonderful holiday season and a Merry Christmas!