Christmas Food Safety: The Four Cs

With the festive period upon us, many of us preparing to cook and serve food for family and friends. In the following blog, our Food Hygiene consultant, Lucy Jones, provides valuable Christmas food safety tips to help you steer clear of the unwelcome guest of food poisoning while you embark on your culinary endeavours.

Christmas often means extra guests arrive, which means extra food. Therefore it’s important to remember the 4 Cs: Cleaning, Chilling, Cooking and avoiding Cross Contamination.

Cleaning

• Always wash your hands in warm soapy water, before and after preparing food, particularly after handling raw meat
• Ensure kitchen worktops, preparing areas and utensils are kept clean using appropriate sanitiser/detergent  and always follow the instructions on the packaging.
• Dishcloths and tea towels should also be regularly cleaned. If they are in high-use, you may need to clean them more frequently than usual.
• Ensure kitchen cupboards and fridges/freezers are clean. It’s a good idea to do this before the big food shop arrives!

Chilling

• Ensure your refrigerator is set between 1°C and 5°C, a small thermometer will help with this. If the fridge is particularly full, you may want to keep an eye on this.
• All food with a use by date should be refrigerated. These should be checked throughout the holiday season. Pay particular attention to these, as it is easy to lose track of the date when routines are broken.
• Perishable food should be at room temperature for the shortest time possible, for example when putting out a buffet. Food should be out for a maximum of 90 minutes.
• Do not overload the refrigerator. Consider what could be safely taken out to make room, such as any extra soft drinks.

Cooking

• Always follow cooking instructions on food packaging carefully.
• Ensure all cooked food reaches a core temperature of 75°C. A simple food probe can help with this. Another way to check meat is cooked is to see if the juices run clear, and the meat is steaming hot in the middle.
• Once food is cooked, it should be either served immediately, or cooled within 90 minutes and moved to the fridge.
• Don’t reheat food more than once.

Cross contamination

• Wash your hands with warm soapy water before preparing food and after preparing raw meats.
• Wash all utensils and kitchen worktops between tasks.
• Store raw meats and fish below ready-to-eat food and vegetables.
• Cover all foods with lids or cling film etc. to protect them from cross contamination.

And finally, the turkey!

• Never wash the turkey, and ensure it is cooked within 24 hours after defrosting.
• Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling the turkey.
• Never defrost any poultry at room temperature.  Place it into a tray (to catch any drips) on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator at 5°C or below.
• Always follow the instructions on the packaging, but as a guide you are looking at 10-12 hours per kilogram to defrost a turkey.
• Once you think the turkey is cooked, use a probe to see if it has reached a core temperature of 75°C.  Alternative methods to check are an absence of pink meat, and juices running clear. The turkey should be piping hot throughout.
• If you have leftovers these can be frozen, but be sure to do this soon after the turkey has cooled. Frozen turkey can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Never refreeze any meat.

All that remains is for us to wish you a restful Christmas break.