How to Safely Handle Chicken and Poultry

Safety is key in having a great holiday feast and one of the show stoppers is the turkey. Use these tips and you can keep your family safe for a new year of binge eating. These tips work for all poultry...chicken, turkey, or duck.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Knowledge
• Clean kitchen and fridge
• Clean hands
• Clean grocery store

1. groceries When dealing with any food you need to start out with a clean, fresh grocery store. A dirty store can mean a dirty butcher table. Then, check the sell by dates to ensure you pick out the freshest cut of chicken or turkey possible. Place your purchase in a plastic bag so you don't get blood on any of your other groceries. Always save grocery shopping for last on your errands because you want your food to get to your refrigerator asap, this includes putting it away once you get home and not waiting for all the groceries to come in first. All poultry can stay in the store wrapping if being refrigerated, if freezing you should unwrap, rinse, dry and repackage in freezer-safe paper or bags. If you are not serving the poultry within two days, freeze it.
2. storing Now we are ready to prepare our fresh food for our family. Again, start with clean surroundings. Wash your hands for twenty seconds under very warm water and dry with a clean towel. Next, you need to clean countertops, cutting boards, dishes, utensils and everything that will come in contact with the chicken or turkey with hot soapy water. Rinse and pat dry the poultry with a paper towel and dispose of the towel immediately. If you are going to defrost or marinade, they should both be done in the fridge. Discard all of the marinade, DO NOT use them for sauces or basting. Once you start cooking, never place raw and cooked chicken on the same surface. All food items need to reach 140 degrees as quickly as possible and reach 165(except rare meat) degrees to kill almost all bacteria. Before serving, always check the thickest parts to see if they are completely cooked.
3. preparing To serve and store properly, remove all stuffings when carving. Serve immediately after cooking and don't allow your meal to sit around at room temperature for more than 1 hour. Remove all meat from the bone and use shallow containers so the food will cool quickly and evenly. Refrigerate meat and poultry away from any other items. Always bring leftover gravy to a full boil and reheat all food to 165 degreees.

Tips & Warnings

• In the restaurant industry there is a list of points in food handling where you learn to prevent bacteria and contamination from happening. They are:
• Packing/Assembly/Set up-Was the grocery display clean?
• Receiving-Purchasing from a well respected grocery store.
• Storage-The condition of your fridge.
• Preparation-Was the food handled in a clean area?
• Cooking-Was it cooked properly and completely?
• Cooling-Was the food cooled completely and quickly?
• Reheating-Was it reheated to 165 degrees quickly?
• Holding-Did the food sit out for longer then 1 hour after serving?
• These steps help with handling ALL food properly!
• Lack of food sanitaion can kill. Think of yourself and your family, treat these tips with priority.