Health department promotes Thanksgiving food safety

NEGAUNEE — With Thanksgiving only two days away, people are starting to prepare their holiday dinners. It is crucial to keep food safety at the top of the list this holiday season.

Despite it being a holiday tradition, it is strongly recommend to not stuff your turkey. It is safer to prepare and cook your turkey as its own dish.

Defrosting the turkey is also a key part of successfully and safely cooking your meal.

Jill Fries, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at Marquette Health Department, “So say you bought your frozen turkey today and you still want to get it roasted on Thursday. There’s ways to do it faster but you need to maintain at least 38 to 40 degrees. So in that sense would want to use a large cold water container, and then change your water every 30 minutes. What we don’t want you to do is take a frozen turkey and put it on your counter and let it defrost that way. That can lead to bacterial growth.”

Some other health tips to keep in mind for turkey day: Avoid having Thanksgiving dinner be your only meal of the day. Doing so sends the body into starvation mode, and you will consume more calories than if you ate little meals through out the day.