You’ve bought a Thanksgiving turkey and the fixings to accompany it. You’re feeling anxious as you slowly cross all of the objects off your to-do lists as you get nearer to the day of preparation and cooking. Meals security is probably going far out of your thoughts as you’re centered on having sufficient facet dishes, drinks and desserts for everybody. However it shouldn’t be.

“When you’re preparing a holiday meal, usually for a larger group of people, you’re preparing more food and you’re a little bit more rushed,” stated Keith Schneider, a meals security professor within the division of meals science and human diet on the College of Florida. “You may be more prone to make mistakes.”

The very last thing you wish to do is put anybody susceptible to getting a foodborne sickness. In keeping with Joshua Resnick, lead chef on the Institute of Culinary Training who’s absolutely licensed in meals safety by the New York Metropolis Division of Health and Psychological Hygiene, “In the case of a large bird, you’re normally feeding a big crowd and don’t want to get a lot of people sick. You definitely want to keep safety in mind as much as flavor.”

HuffPost spoke with meals security specialists on the largest errors individuals make when making ready and cooking turkey and what to do as a substitute.

Washing your palms with scorching water and cleaning soap needs to be the very first thing you do earlier than you start any meals preparation, particularly when cooking a big meal. Consultants say individuals generally neglect this primary step when dealing with uncooked turkey.

“People don’t even realize that they’ll rub their noses, they’ll run their fingers through their hair or wipe the sweat from their brow as they’re preparing a meal for 20 people,” Schneider stated. “And not realize what they’re doing.”

Be ready to clean quite a few instances when making ready and cooking turkey. “Wash your hands at least 20 to 30 seconds each time you handle the turkey and it’s in a raw state,” suggested Ray Campbell, a well being and security supervisor at Tulane College’s eating providers program.

Correct thawing is vital to even cooking and eliminating pathogens.

“You should never, ever thaw the turkey or other foods on the counter. Thaw your turkey in the refrigerator,” stated Darin Detwiler, a professor of meals coverage and company social duty at Northeastern College and writer of ”Meals Security: Previous, Current, and Predictions.”

And in response to Campbell, “Bacteria, germs and other harmful pathogens grow at an alarming rate when the turkey is thawed at room temperature.”

Defrosting a turkey requires preparation, area in your fridge and a minimal of 24 hours or longer, relying on the scale of the hen. Take a look at our information on how lengthy it takes to thaw each measurement of turkey. “It’s amazing how many people try to thaw turkey really quickly,” Detwiler commented. Doing so places you in danger for a foodborne sickness.

There’s a rule of thumb to know simply how lengthy it can take to defrost the turkey. “You need 24 hours for every four to five pounds of a bird,” Campbell defined. “So if you got an 8-to-10-pound turkey, you need about 48 hours.” Don’t rely the times, rely by the hour to ensure it’s absolutely defrosted. “Some people take out the turkey on Thursday but they may have put it in on Wednesday at 6 o’clock in the evening and now it’s Thursday morning, at 8 o’clock,” he stated. “That’s not 24 hours.”

In the event you’re considering, who cares if a part of the turkey is frozen, it can cook dinner within the oven, you’ll wish to assume once more. A frozen turkey will cook dinner inconsistently, so that you’ll have overcooked and undercooked meat.

“They put it in the oven without it thawing completely, leading to parts of the meat overcooking by the time everything reaches a safe temperature. Or they temp it improperly and end up serving undercooked meat,” Resnick stated.

Whereas thawing a turkey within the fridge, be sure to place it on high of a tray to catch any liquid and keep away from cross-contamination.

“I recommend keeping the turkey in the original wrapping and putting it inside another container or on a two-inch pan or something of that nature,” Campbell defined. This can catch any liquids and forestall them from dripping and probably spreading pathogens within the fridge.

“Put the turkey on top of a tray with a lip so that if there are any juices, they don’t drip down and get into things that are not cooked, like your salad ingredients,” Detwiler stated.

Some individuals all the time wash their poultry earlier than cooking, whereas some have by no means heard of the observe. Meals security specialists warn that washing turkey is a incredible option to unfold plenty of micro organism all through your kitchen. There are extra dangers washing your hen than in the event you had been to not wash it.

Washing a turkey or hen just isn’t a “kill step,” an operative phrase within the meals business for stopping a foodborne pathogen. “If there are pathogens on the turkey, it just spreads around your kitchen,” Detwiler stated. “Your entire sink area now is basically a contaminated danger zone.”

And it’s not solely your sink you could be involved about. Campbell added, “Surfaces, such as sinks, countertops, dishes, dish towels and dish racks can become contaminated.”

In the event you or your loved ones have all the time washed poultry, it may be straightforward to assume it’s a crucial a part of meals preparation. Schneider defined that this can be a frequent cause individuals proceed to clean meat. “One of the things we run into is that most people tend to have a false sense of security because they’ve done something for so long, and no one’s gotten ill so it reinforces that behavior,” he stated. “Washing is not going to make the bird safer.”

Schneider is aware of habits might be arduous to interrupt, so he recommends that in the event you nonetheless plan to clean your meat, don’t use excessive stress to rinse the turkey and completely clear your kitchen. “Make sure that you sanitize afterwards so that you don’t potentially cross-contaminate your cutting board, utensils and other things in the kitchen,” he stated. He recommends utilizing an antibacterial kitchen cleaner that kills 99.9% of micro organism.

Ovens don’t have an equal temperature all through. Rotating the turkey whereas it’s cooking will assist it cook dinner completely. In the event you simply place the pan within the oven and wait till it’s carried out, it’s doubtless that some elements of the turkey will cook dinner sooner than others.

“The best way to ensure that your bird cooks evenly and to a proper temperature would be to rotate the bird, as ovens have hot and cool zones, to ensure an even cooking,” Resnick stated.

Prepare dinner meat incessantly at dwelling? A meat thermometer needs to be in your kitchen. Checking the temperature is the one option to know if the turkey is cooked completely. Much like hen, you don’t wish to eat barely uncooked turkey. “Harmful pathogens can be present in undercooked turkey,” Campbell stated. In keeping with Science Direct, pathogens in uncooked turkey can embody campylobacter, clostridium perfringens and salmonella.

“People should use a food-grade thermometer, not the so-called pop-up kind to ensure that an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit has been met,” Campbell defined. When the hen has reached the minimal temperature it’s going to inactivate the microbes.

Questioning the place to insert your meat thermometer? Measure the temperature within the thickest areas of the turkey for essentially the most correct outcomes. “Always insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the turkey, usually the breast, or where the body of the bird joins the thigh or wing joint,” Campbell suggested.

Resnick recommends taking a number of readings, too. “People will temp one part of the turkey and go off of one reading instead of checking in multiple spots and ensuring that everything is cooked through properly.”

In the event you all the time stuff your turkey, you’ve doubtless participated in debates about this contentious subject. Campbell is aware of this nicely as he prefaced his feedback by saying, “Most of the older generation might not like this because it kind of goes against tradition: It’s safer to cook stuffing outside of the turkey instead of stuffing the turkey.”

To ensure potential pathogens haven’t survived, “the internal temperature of the stuffing needs to reach 165 degrees at its center,” Campbell stated. The reason being rooted in science. “When you put a very spongy bread stuffing inside the bird, as it cooks the water evaporates and you get evaporative cooling, but the stuffing inside of the bird where a lot of the pathogens hideout will remain slightly cooler than the environment around it,” Schneider defined.

For this reason meals security specialists say stuffing needs to be cooked individually. “Cook stuffing in a casserole dish, regular baking pan or aluminum baking pan,” Campbell stated.