Despite the amount of work that goes into preparing and cooking a turkey, it is overwhelmingly the most popular choice for the Thanksgiving meal.
If you’re one of those people cooking a turkey for friends, families, or yourself today, Health Canada has some health and safety reminders for handling poultry.
Helene Couture is the Chief of the Evaluation Division of Microbial Hazards at Health Canada.
She says while they recommend cooking stuffing outside the turkey, if you do cook it inside the turkey, there is some advice to follow.
“You should prepare loose stuffing and put it in before you cook it, and remove it immediately after cooking so there is no period of time where the temperature goes lower to allow bacteria to grow in the product,” says Couture.
She says if you do choose to wash your turkey in the sink, you need to be very careful about clean up afterwards.
“You can create splashing around the sink, on the tap, everywhere and it’s the same thing with the juice that comes from the turkey, it could be contaminated with bacteria such as salmonella,” says Couture.
She says after you handle and wash the raw turkey you should take precautions.
“Wash your hands, and any surface that has been in contact with the juice shoud be cleaned and disinfected to make sure that the bacteria is removed from this particular environment,” says Couture.
Health Canada says you should check your turkey with a meat thermometer before enjoying it, to ensure it has reached at least 82 degrees Celsius, or 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
