Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is only 3 days away. Dr John is here with a few simple
tips to ensure that it remains a healthy holiday tradition.

Thursday a lot of us are going to try to eat our body weight of turkey,
gravy and pies. But you’ll want to make sure you handle all the food
safely so no one goes home sick.

The first step is thawing the turkey. Go to the website I’ll give you in
a minute to make sure you do it right. After you thaw out your prized
turkey, you’ll need to get ready to cook it. Make sure you remove the
giblets and cook them separately. While cooking, you need to get the meat
to 165 degrees f. Unfortunately, the little pop-out timers that come with
the turkey usually aren’t enough, so you should get a meat thermometer and
use it in the turkey thigh. When that gets to 165 degrees, you can be
assured the rest of the turkey is the right temperature.

Once the turkey is cooked, it needs to be eaten or refrigerated within two
hours.

After Thanksgiving, come the leftovers, but be careful here as well.
Again, turkey needs to be stored within two hours after being cooked. If
you store it in the refrigerator, eat it within three to four days and
gravy within one to two. If you want to store it longer, freeze it. When
you cook leftovers, make sure you heat them until they’re hot and
steaming, that’ll avoid food poisoning. That could ruin everyone’s
holiday.
For last minute tips you can call the USDA at 1-888-674-6854 or log on to
their website, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Lets_Talk_Turkey/index.asp