12/09/08 Safe Eats & Treats

Safe Eats & Treats. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The growing season is over and the holidays are here and that means it's the season for office parties and potlucks. Time to enjoy some of the fruits of the bounty and it's also the time to heed some special food safety advice. The holidays are festive times but also a critical couple of weeks for food safety concerns. Ellen Laymon of the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Division says it's important to complete a check list prior to the party or potluck. LAYMON: When you are planning for what you are going to take to a potluck, think about the ingredients for your chosen dish. Is it potentially hazardous? Is it shelf stable? Can it stay out at room temperature for long periods of time, or does it require refrigeration or constant heat? Serving shelf stable foods such as crackers, chips, or cookies is one way to avoid problems. Another is to make sure there is enough refrigerator space to keep cold foods cold and enough oven space or stove tops to keep hot foods hot. Then there is the matter of leftover food. LAYMON: The old adage of food safety is when in doubt, throw it out. If you have control over everything, if it's out of temperature for more than two hours, I would discard it. Keep the hot foods hot and the cold foods cold, and don't put it out until you are ready to eat. Foods that are served hot or need to be chilled should avoid being in the danger zone for very long. That's between 40 degrees and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, where bacteria grows the best. Taking some common sense steps this holiday season will go along way to making it a happy and healthy time of year. Laymon says the same year-around advice on avoiding cross-contamination is appropriate for the holiday season as foods are prepared for parties and potlucks. LAYMON: With raw meats, as you are prepping it next to vegetables if you are making a relish tray to go along with something, or raw eggs- if it's in an egg nog, you just want to be careful about that, the cross-contamination of raw and ready-to-eat foods. Laymon says transporting the food to the party or potluck should be taken into consideration. LAYMON: If the commute time for where you are going is 20 minutes or less, it's probably not a big deal. But if it's going to be longer than that, if it's hot food, you'll want to cool it down, put it in an ice chest and take it. If it's a cold food, put it in an ice chest and carry it just to be on the safe side. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.