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It's all about the Sides

From USDA:

Posted by Amelia Kermis, MPH CHES, Food Safety Education Staff, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA, on December 18, 2014 at 9:30 AM

By keeping your side dish components separate, you can avoid cross-contamination.

Main dishes may dominate most holiday tables, but the space on your plate will probably be filled with more sides than whatever holiday meat is served. Proper food handling and cooking will make sure these items come out just as safe and delicious as your main meat.

Making a safe side dish can be even harder than making a main dish safely because side dishes usually contain many ingredients. The more ingredients in the dish the greater the opportunity there is for cross-contamination. By keeping your side dish components separate, you can avoid cross-contamination.

Below is a list of holiday side dishes that offer unique food safety challenges.

Casseroles

Kugel, a traditional Jewish dish, and many other types of casseroles served during winter holidays, contain eggs. As with all dishes containing egg, Salmonella bacteria are a concern. You cannot tell if an egg contains Salmonella. In fact, the bacterium has been found inside even a clean, unbroken egg.

The only way to make sure these dishes are safe to eat is by fully cooking the eggs they contain. You know the dish is fully cooked when a thermometer inserted into the center of the mixture reaches 160 °F.

Cook casseroles completely at one time – do not partially cook them and then finish cooking later. Harmful bacteria will grow between the time you start and finish cooking, even if you refrigerate the food in between. Those bacteria may produce toxins that can make you sick.

Meaty Sides

Lots of holiday side dishes include meat. Whether you’re serving Brussels sprouts and bacon, stuffing with sausage, or another meaty accompaniment, make side dishes containing meat with extra care. The following tips will help ensure your meaty sides are food safe:

• Cook raw meat, poultry, or shellfish ingredients to safe temperatures before adding to the rest of the side’s ingredients. This reduces the risk of food poisoning from the bacteria that may be found in the raw ingredients.
• Stuffing is safe to eat when the center reaches 165 °F. This is particularly important for stuffing inside a roast or containing meat.
• Resist the temptation to taste your side dish before it is fully cooked. Eating undercooked meat, poultry, and egg products can place you at increased risk for food poisoning.
• Cook your meaty side dishes after you prepare your sides that will not be cooked. This prevents cross-contamination.

Ready-to-Eat Sides

If you are in a rush this holiday and plan to pick up a meat or cheese tray to bring to a party, make sure the tray is refrigerated in the store. You should also keep the tray cold until serving because these cut items provide bacteria a wonderful environment to replicate in. Be careful to keep it separated from raw meat and poultry.

If you want to serve precooked appetizers such as mini quiche make sure you have your food thermometer nearby. Check the internal temperatures of a sampling of these items to confirm they’ve reached a safe internal temperature before serving.

Get the Most Out of Your Holiday Roast

From USDA:

Posted by Amelia Kermis, MPH CHES, Food Safety Education Staff, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA, on December 16, 2014 at 2:00 PM

Roasting is the recommended method for cooking tender meats. To roast, meat is placed on a rack in a shallow, uncovered pan and is cooked by the indirect dry heat of an oven.

The traditional centerpiece of many holiday meals served this time of year is the roast. Whether you use pork, beef, goose, turkey, or chicken, the most popular means to cook your meat of choice is in the oven.

The roasting recipe that was handed down to you from your great grandmother may need a little updating though. Whether it asks you to marinate at room temperature overnight, or cook until ‘the juices run clear,’ some instructions in heirloom recipes might be outdated. To help you make the dish your great grandmother intended, we pulled together a list of holiday roasting tips.

Beef, Veal, Pork and Lamb: To avoid overcooking beef, veal, pork and lamb roasts use a meat thermometer. These roasts should be removed from the oven when they reach an internal temperature of 145 °F. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming. If you’re concerned about serving a dry roast, use a continuous read thermometer or start checking the temperature of your meat earlier then the recipe’s cooking directions.

Turkey, Duck, and Goose: Domestic ducklings and geese have a great deal of fat. While it helps them float when swimming, fat is undesirable in a cooked duck. Therefore, it’s recommended to prick or score the skin of a whole duck before cooking so that most of the fat will render out. These birds should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 °F as measured by a food thermometer. Temperatures should be taken in three areas of the bird: the thickest part of the breast, the innermost part of the wing, and the innermost part of the thigh. For more information on safe poultry handling and cooking, read our Thanksgiving material.

For approximate cooking times to use in meal planning, visit FoodSafety.gov. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures but at the recommended temperatures the food is safe to eat. Following the guidelines at FoodSafety.gov will ensure that your roast brings you back to holidays past.

Directions to a Prosperous Rural America

From USDA:

Posted by Dr. Richard Derksen, Program Coordinator, Office of the Chief Scientist, on December 16, 2014 at 9:00 AM

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

If you’re like me, the holidays are a time to pack our bags and set off to visit family members and loved ones.  When my family goes on a road trip — with what seems like half the country doing the same thing — the driver is always asked helpful questions like, “Do you know where you’re going?” or “Are we there yet?” At USDA, we’re often revisiting the same questions and potential solutions as we develop plans to strengthen the rural economy.

Tackling the problems rural America faces is not unlike a family road trip.  Directions are needed to help steer USDA programs supporting rural America toward our goals:  “Do you know where you’re going?”  As it turns out, the answer to this question is an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

The 2010 “A Roadmap for USDA Science” expressed a vision for delivering the research, tools, and statistical data needed to meet the needs of USDA agencies and the country. The 2014 Research, Education, and Economics (REE) Action Plan further develops the vision outlined in the Roadmap and provides direction for the REE Mission agencies.

In response to the changes rural America has experience over the last century, the REE Action Plan provides direction for effective research, education, and extension that inform public and private decision-making in support of rural and community development.  One important contribution to sustainable, healthy rural communities is access to timely, reliable data and information that allows rural citizens and entrepreneurs to make informed business and personal decisions.

The REE Action Plan supports expansion of the bioeconomy by supporting development, production, and consumption of renewable energy and biobased products which will help create prosperous rural communities that are self-sustaining, re-populating, and economically thriving.   Another priority is developing strategies to support pollinator health which is critical to agricultural production across the country.

“Are we there yet?”  Impact-driven agricultural science is critical to the future of our country.  Having defined direction for USDA science and implementation of the REE Action Plan ensures that resources are being used to achieve the goals in the most efficient manner. Regular, frequent progress checks will be made within the mission area, and on an agency level, to make sure we’re on track to support rural America.

Hope your travels get you safely to your destination. See you on the roads!