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                         November 21, 2001

Focus on holiday or party buffets

A popular way to celebrate the holidays or any party occasion is to invite friends and family to a buffet. However, this type of food service where foods are left out for long periods leave the door open for uninvited guests -- bacteria that cause food borne illness. Festive times for giving and sharing should not include sharing food borne illness. Here are some tips from the USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline to help you have a safe holiday party.

Safe food handling
Always wash your hands before and after handling food. Keep your kitchen, dishes and utensils clean also. Always serve food on clean plates -- not those previously holding raw meat and poultry. Otherwise, bacteria which may have been present in raw meat juices can cross contaminate the food to be served.

Cook thoroughly
If you are cooking foods ahead of time for your party be sure to cook foods thoroughly to safe temperatures. Refer to the doneness temperatures in the article above.

Use shallow containers
Divide cooked foods into shallow containers to store in the refrigerator or freezer until serving. This encourages rapid, even cooling. Reheat hot foods to 165 degrees F. Arrange and serve food on several small platters rather than one large platter. Keep the rest of the food hot in the oven (set at 200-250 degrees F) or cold in the refrigerator until serving time. This way foods will be held at a safe temperature for a longer period of time. Replace empty platters rather than adding fresh food to a dish that already had food in it. Many people’s hands may have been taking food from the dish, which has also been sitting out at room temperature.

The two-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.

Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold
Hot foods should be held at 140 degrees 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 degrees F or colder. Keep foods cold by nesting dished in bowls of ice. Otherwise, use small serving trays and replace them.

Handle leftovers with care
Leftovers should be stored within two hours of cooking. Cut the turkey off the bones. Discard anything left out too long. When reheating leftovers, reheat thoroughly to a temperature of 165 degrees F or until hot and steamy. Bring soups, sauces and gravies to a rolling boil. If in doubt, it is better to throw it out.

Refrigerate stuffing and turkey in separate, shallow containers. Use leftover turkey within four days; stuffing and gravy within one or two days.