Christmas Food Safety Tips

[The Food Chain]

• Check the use-by dates on food in shops. The use-by date is the deadline

• When shopping, pick up chilled and frozen food last

• Store raw foods and cooked foods separately at all times

• Perishable foods should be refrigerated as soon as you get home

• Don’t overload your fridge

• Keep your fridge at 5 oC

• Defrost your frozen turkey fully before cooking

• When meat is fully cooked it will be piping hot all the way through, the juices will run clear and there will be no pink meat left

• To find out how long your turkey will take to cook visit our safefood turkey cooking calculator http://www.safefood.eu/Christmas/turkey.html

• Refrigerate all leftovers this Christmas

• Only ever reheat leftovers once

• Leftovers should be eaten within three days, unless frozen

• To freeze leftovers, cool within two hours, cover and freeze

• Food should not be put in the freezer when it’s still warm

• Keep your freezer at -18 oC