Food Safety for the Holidays

The COVID-19 pandemic has been traumatic and insulating for many people. Gatherings over the coming holidays will be an occasion to reconnect with family and friends. This holiday season, remember how your holiday plans can be changed to reduce the distribution of COVID-19 in order to keep your friends, families and neighborhoods stable and secure. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak is worsening and intimate household gatherings are a significant contributor to the surge in COVID-19 cases. DOH suggests the following considerations to slow the spread of COVID-19 at small gatherings. Make sure to include food protection as a feature of your party, holiday or event preparation. Follow these tips to stay healthy when catering for celebrations and during social occasions and holidays.

Keep It Clean

• Wash your hands with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds before preparing, eating, or handling food. Wash your hands after using the bathroom and touching pets.

• Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with hot, soapy water after preparing each food item.

Separate Raw Meat from Other Foods

• Fresh beef, poultry, fish and eggs from foods that are not prepared until they are consumed, such as grapes, salad greens, deli salads and bread.

• Using different cutting boards, plates and knives for fresh fruit and vegetables and for raw beef, fish, seafood and eggs.

• Hold raw beef, poultry, vegetables and eggs apart from other foods while shopping for food and kept in the refrigerator.

Store and Reheat Right Away

• Divide the leftovers into smaller bits or parts, put them in shallow containers, and refrigerate or freeze.

• Remaining foods should be refrigerated at 40°F or below as soon as possible and within two hours of cooking. It's OK to bring hot food in the refrigerator.

• Reheat the leftovers to at least 165°F before eating. This involves the leftovers cooked in the oven.

• Learn how long food can be kept safely in the refrigerator.

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