Thanksgiving Health

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, a lot of us are going to try to eat our body weight in 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. 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. Most importantly, you need to make sure the turkey meat gets to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, the little pop-out timers that come with the turkey usually aren’t enough, so 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 within two hours, then leftovers refrigerated.

After Thanksgiving you get to enjoy those leftovers, but be careful here as well. If you store it in the refrigerator, eat the meat 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 will 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 Let's Talk Turkey.