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Leftovers: Beware the Danger Zone

Monday, 13 October 2014 at 10:38

Public Health advising public to ensure turkey cooked to proper temperature.

OXFORD COUNTY - Oxford Public Health is looking to keep you safe from your leftovers this holiday weekend. 

Program Supervisor Health Protection with the County, Elaine Reddick says turkey should be cooked to 85 degrees Celsius to ensure it's properly cooked.

"When you use a meat thermometer you can make sure you hit that temperature that you need for safety but not go too far beyond that temperature so it captures both safety and also the quality of your cooking so I really recommend that people consider getting that digital thermometer so they do hit those temperatures correctly."

Reddick adds from a Public Health perspective, they do not recommend putting stuffing into an uncooked turkey but if you insist, she says the stuffing needs to get up to 74 degrees Celsius. 

Reddick says any leftovers you have need to be refrigerated as soon as possible.

"The rule of thumb is two hours. Certainly the meal may take a while and people aren't in a rush to start cleaning up but you don't want to have food out more than two hours at room temperature so get everything into the fridge."

Reddick says leftover turkey meat and stuffing is good for 2-3 days in the fridge but she says if you want to keep them longer they really should go into the freezer. 

She also adds that leftovers should only be reheated once.

"You're taking food up and through what we call the danger zone, the temperature zone we don't recommend food be kept in because bacteria grows. Every time you heat something up and cool it back down it's going through that danger zone so we recommend that you only do that once. Just heat the amount of leftovers that you think you will use."

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