Seriously, don’t wash your turkey (and other food safety tips for Thanksgiving)
COVID doesn’t loom as large this Thanksgiving as it has the past few years, but we should still be careful about catching illnesses around the dinner table.
COVID aside, salmonella infection can be serious and result from one bad habit many Thanksgiving home chefs can’t seem to kick: Washing your turkey (or chicken, for that matter).
Experts insist that washing a turkey or chicken does nothing but increase the likelihood that someone will get sick.
So, once again, here’s your Thanksgiving food safety tip #1: Don’t wash the bird.
Here’s more about why you shouldn’t wash poultry, how to sanitize anything it touches, and other food safety tips for Thanksgiving.
Does washing the turkey kill disease-causing bacteria?
No, washing the turkey has nothing to do with getting rid of disease-causing bacteria. Here’s how you do that:
Cook your poultry to a safe temperature. This is the only way to destroy disease-causing bacteria. Washing or brining your turkey will not decontaminate your turkey.
Use a food thermometer to ensure your turkey is cooked to 165 degrees fahrenheit.
Why is washing my turkey dangerous?
Lisa Shelley, a food safety expert with NC State, wrote a detailed piece about foodborne illness that can come from washing and prepping your poultry.
“I don’t wash my turkey but I still prep it in the sink, so I need to make sure I’m sanitizing my sink to ensure I’m removing any possible pathogen that could be there,” Shelley said.
“If you’re handling a turkey, you need to sanitize everything it touches — including your hands — immediately afterwards.”
Some points from her article:
Washing your poultry can splash potentially contaminated droplets and juices onto your countertop, nearby utensils and ready-to-eat foods.
A more dangerous concern is that washing your poultry will contaminate the sink, which, if not sanitized properly, can pose a significant cross-contamination risk.
Be sure to wash your sink with soap, water and a sanitizing agent, rather than just rinsing it down with only water, after prepping your raw turkey.
Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens can be found in turkey. Proper handwashing — wetting hands, using soap and scrubbing for at least 20 seconds — plays a key role in reducing the spread of disease-causing germs from a variety of sources.
Cooking to a safe internal temperature is the best (and only) way to kill bacteria that could cause disease.
Can you get sick from undercooked turkey?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one million people in the United States get sick each year from raw or undercooked poultry.
If you eat foods that have been contaminated by raw or undercooked poultry, you can develop foodborne illness.
An estimated 46 million turkeys get prepped, cooked and served for Thanksgiving alone.
Other safety precautions for prepping food
Use separate cutting boards for poultry and vegetables. Even if you’re not washing your turkey, you can contaminate other foods with its foodborne pathogens.
If stuffing and/or gravy are prepped inside the turkey, it should also reach a safe temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Any prepared food should not be left out for more than two hours. Be sure to put prepared food (like casserole, mashed potatoes or mac and cheese) in the fridge after it’s been sitting on the table for more than two hours.
Pies purchased at the grocery store can remain at room temperature, though homemade pies should be refrigerated.
Be sure to cover food after it is prepared to avoid cross-contamination.
And one parting Thanksgiving tip . . .
What’s the fasted and safest way to defrost a turkey?
If you waited too long to thaw your frozen turkey (yes, you should have started that days ago) and need it to thaw ASAP, you should keep it in its leak-proof packaging and submerge it in cold water.
You’ll need to change the water every 30 minutes.
Keeping the turkey in its packaging will prevent cross-contamination of foodborne pathogens.
This story was originally published November 21, 2023 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Seriously, don’t wash your turkey (and other food safety tips for Thanksgiving)."
