| Partnership for Food Safety Education

Brilliant Buffets and Party Platters

A popular way to celebrate holidays or any party occasion is to invite friends and family to a buffet. However, this type of food service, where foods may be out for long periods leaves the door open for uninvited guests — bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Here are some tips for a safe and brilliant buffet:

Safe Food Handling
Always wash your hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food. Clean kitchen surfaces, dishes and utensils with hot water and soap. Always serve food on clean plates — never those previously holding raw meat or poultry. Bacteria that may have been present in raw meat or poultry can cross-contaminate the food to be served.

Ready to Cook a Feast
If you are cooking foods ahead of time for your party, be sure to cook foods thoroughly to safe internal temperatures.

Keep Hot Foods HOT And Cold Foods COLD
Hot foods should be held at 140 °F or warmer. On the buffet table you can keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers and warming trays. Cold foods should be held at 40 °F or colder. Keep foods cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice. If you buy party trays at the store, remove lid and fill with ice. Put the tray on the lid for a handy cooling station. Bacteria can also multiply quickly in moist desserts that contain dairy products. Keep eggnog, cheesecakes, cream pies and cakes with whipped-cream or cream-cheese frostings refrigerated until serving time.

Safely Sauced
Some sauces, dressings and even dessert recipes contain uncooked eggs. If your homemade recipes call for uncooked eggs, you can modify them by using pasteurized eggs, pasteurized egg product or cooking the egg mixture on the stovetop to 160 °F. Then follow the recipe’s directions.

The 2-Hour Rule
Foods should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours. Keep track of how long foods have been sitting on the buffet table and discard anything there two hours or more.

Storing the Smorgasbord
Divide cooked foods into shallow containers to store in the refrigerator or freezer until serving. This encourages rapid, even cooling. Reheat foods to 165 °F. Arrange and serve food on several small platters rather than on one large platter. You can prepare extra serving platters and dishes ahead of time, store them in the refrigerator or keep them hot in the oven (set at approximately 200 to 250 °F) prior to serving.

Download a Healthy Guests: Happy Holidays flyer

Lots of People, Lots of Leftovers

When preparing for your special event, remember that there may be an invisible enemy ready to strike. It’s called BAC (foodborne bacteria), and it can make you sick. Lots of people and little time can create opportunities for mishandling and contamination. After the big party, remember to safely handle leftovers to prevent foodborne illness.

Plan Ahead

Make sure you have the right equipment, including cutting boards, utensils, food thermometers, cookware, shallow containers for storage, soap, and paper towels.
Plan on enough storage space in the refrigerator and freezer. In the refrigerator, air needs to circulate to keep the temperature at 40 °F or below. Use an appliance thermometer in your refrigerator to monitor the temperature.

When You Shop

Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from fruit, vegetables, other foods and cleaning supplies in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags and in your refrigerator.
Check that fresh cut fruits and vegetables like packaged salads and precut melons are refrigerated at the store before buying. Do not buy fresh cut items that are not refrigerated.
Buy cold foods last. Plan to drive directly home from the grocery store. You may want to take a cooler with ice or frozen gel packs for perishables. Always refrigerate perishable food within two hours. Refrigerate within one hour when the temperature is above 90 °F.
Avoid canned goods that are dented, leaking, bulging or rusted. These are the warning signs that dangerous bacteria may be growing in the can.

Working in the Kitchen

Make sure that anyone who helps in the kitchen knows the basic food safety rules—clean, separate, cook and chill.
Encourage everyone to wash his or her hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food.
Sponges and kitchen towels can easily soak up bacteria and cross-contaminate kitchen surfaces and hands. When a crowd is over and food preparation gets hectic, it can be safer to use paper towels.
Try to keep the refrigerator door closed as much as possible to keep it safely at 40 °F or below.

Lovely Leftovers

Throw away all perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, eggs and casseroles, left at room temperature longer than two hours; one hour in air temperatures above 90 °F. This also includes leftovers taken home from a restaurant. Some exceptions to this rule are foods such as cookies, crackers, bread and whole fruits.
Whole roasts, hams and turkeys should be sliced or cut into smaller pieces or portions before storing them in the refrigerator or freezer.
Refrigerate or freeze leftovers in shallow containers. Wrap or cover the food. Leftovers stored in the refrigerator should be consumed within 3-4 days, and leftovers should be heated to 165°F prior to consumption.
Foods stored longer may become unsafe to eat and cause foodborne illness. Do not taste leftovers that appear to be safe, bacteria that cause illness does not affect the taste, smell, or appearance of food.
Frozen storage times are much longer, but some items such as salads made with mayonnaise do not freeze well. Foods kept frozen longer than recommended storage times are safe to eat, but may be drier and not taste as good.
WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT!

The Kitchen

Use hot water and soap to clean the sink, counters, cutting boards, pans, knives, thermometer and other utensils and serving pieces. You might want to sanitize the countertop and your cutting boards. To do this use a diluted bleach solution of 1T unscented liquid bleach (not more) to 1 gallon of water. Let the bleach solution stand on the surface for a few minutes; then rinse and blot dry with clean paper towels.

Have plenty of clean cloth towels (or paper towels) on hand for the meal preparation and clean-up. If you use cloth towels, wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.

Clear a large enough space on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to accommodate the turkey. Check the temperature of your refrigerator. It should be 40 °F or below as measured with an appliance thermometer.

Make sure you have a food thermometer and calibrate it if necessary. [see Speaking of Thermometers, below]

When preparing the meal, rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. Blot dry with a clean cloth towel or paper towel.

Sharpen knives yourself or take them to a professional if necessary.

Wash your hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food.

Remind others who will be in the kitchen handling food to wash their hands too.

AND SPEAKING OF THERMOMETERS …

Using a food thermometer is the only reliable way to ensure safety and to determine desired “doneness” of meat, poultry and egg products. Cooking these foods to a safe minimum internal temperature as measured with a food thermometer will destroy any harmful microorganisms.

Types of Thermometers

Food thermometers come in several types and styles, and vary in level of technology and price. To select the type that will work best for you, get more information on thermometers from USDA.

Digital Food Thermometers

Dial Food Thermometers

Single-Use Temperature Indicators

Pop-Up Timers

Using the Food Thermometer

Most available food thermometers will give an accurate reading within 2 °F to 4 °F. The reading will only be correct, however, if the thermometer is placed in the proper location in the food. If not inserted correctly, or if the food thermometer is placed in the wrong area, the reading will not accurately reflect the internal temperature of the food.

In general, the food thermometer should be placed in the thickest part of the food, away from bone, fat or gristle.

Check Manufacturer’s Instructions

Before using a food thermometer, read the manufacturer’s instructions, which should tell you how far the thermometer must be inserted in a food to give an accurate reading. If instructions are not available, check the stem of the food thermometer for an indentation, or “dimple.” This shows one end of the location of the sensing device. Dial thermometers must penetrate about 2 to 3 inches into the food. Most digital thermometers will read the temperature in a small area of the tip.

AVOID CROSS-CONTAMINATION in the KITCHEN

Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food and after using the

bathroom, changing diapers and handling pets.

In the refrigerator, store turkey and other raw foods that will be cooked on the bottom shelves and ready-to-eat foods on the top shelves. Put turkey in a rimmed pan to catch any leaking juices.

Designate separate cutting boards for raw meats or clean and sanitize cutting boards between uses for different foods.

Clean and sanitize knives between uses on different foods and place only sanitized knives back in their racks.

Sanitize any utensil, equipment or food contact surface after it has been in contact with raw foods, especially meat or eggs.

Never move boxes or containers that may have been stored on the floor onto countertops.

Handling Ingredients

Our Holiday meal favorites are foods made from scratch! Here are guidelines for the safe handling of a few of the ingredients that go into your holiday dishes. Foodborne illness can strike anyone. But If you are preparing foods for people who are at a higher risk for illness — pregnant women, young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems — it is critical to follow the basics of Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.

Remember — Always wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food!

Eggs

To prevent illness from bacteria, keep eggs refrigerated. Cook eggs until yolks are firm and cook egg dishes to a safe temperature of 160 °F as measured with a food thermometer. Eggs and egg dishes, such as quiches or soufflés, may be refrigerated for serving later but should be thoroughly reheated to 165 °F before serving. Wash utensils, equipment and work surfaces with hot water and soap before and after they come in contact with eggs and egg-containing foods.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Check that fresh cut fruits and vegetables like packaged salads and precut melons are refrigerated at the store before buying. Do not buy fresh cut items that are not refrigerated. Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. Packaged fruits and vegetables labeled “ready-to-eat,” “washed,” or “triple-washed,” need not be washed. Never use detergent or bleach to wash fresh fruits or vegetables. These products are not intended for consumption. Keep fresh fruits and vegetables separate from raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs. Do not use the same cutting board without cleaning with hot water and soap before and after preparing fresh fruits and vegetables. Refrigerate all cut, peeled or cooked fresh fruits and vegetables within two hours.

Seafood

It’s always best to cook seafood thoroughly to minimize the risk of foodborne illness. However, if you choose to eat raw fish anyway, one rule of thumb is to eat fish that has been previously frozen. Some species of fish can contain parasites, and freezing will kill any parasites that may be present. But, be aware that freezing doesn’t kill all harmful microorganisms. That’s why the safest route is to cook your seafood.

An Important Note About Oysters:

Some oysters are treated for safety after they are harvested. That information may or may not be on the label. However, these oysters should still not be eaten raw by people at greatest risk for foodborne illness. The post-harvest treatment eliminates some naturally occurring pathogens, but it does not remove all pathogens that can cause illness.

The non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education saves lives and improves public health through research-based, actionable consumer food safety initiatives that reduce foodborne illness. Sign up to be a BAC Fighter atwww.fightbac.org!