Gather around for some Thanksgiving meal safety tips.
Turkey may be the star of nearly every Thanksgiving meal across the country, but health experts say it can also be the most dangerous item on your holiday plate.
The concern centers not on the turkey when it’s properly cooked, but rather on the common mistakes made during its handling and preparation.
Food scientists spoke to the HuffPost about how under‑cooking, improper thawing, and unsafe storage are key risk factors that can lead to foodborne illness.
“I think turkey deserves special attention when it comes to Thanksgiving food safety,” Sara Bratager, a senior food safety and traceability scientist at the Institute of Food Technologists, told the news outlet.
“It’s the centerpiece of most holiday tables, it’s often handled in large quantities by people who only cook it once or twice a year and there are several points in the process where things can easily go wrong.”
Viruses and bacteria can spread year-round, but certain foods eaten at Thanksgiving—especially turkey—may increase the risk of salmonella, which can cause diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and in severe cases, hospitalization or death, Amarat Simonne, a professor of food safety and quality at the University of Florida’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, told the HuffPost.
Undercooked turkey can harbor Campylobacter bacteria, leading to campylobacteriosis, a common form of food poisoning, added Keith Warriner, a professor of food safety at the University of Guelph, Canada.
“In addition, lack of temperature control after cooking can lead to the growth of clostridium perfrigens,” Warriner said. “It produces a toxin that causes diarrhea and can cause dehydration in the elderly. And there’s also the risk of staphylococcus aures, which can cause sickness.”
Those who partake in the increasingly popularity trend of deep‑frying turkeys are also putting themselves at risk.
The cooking method - which involves frying the bird in a container of hot oil - brings with it a whole range of hazards, from potential fires to burns, the Northeast Public Power Association says.
Key tips for preventing fires or burns include never placing a frozen turkey into hot oil, using proper equipment to handle the turkey, and ensuring the fryer is placed on a non-combustible surface.
In 2023, U.S. fire departments reported 1,446 home cooking fires on Thanksgiving, a 388 percent increase over the daily average, the association said.
Thanksgiving consistently sees the highest number of cooking fires due to multiple dishes, distractions, and guests. Between 2019 and 2023, cooking caused 80 percent of Thanksgiving home fires and 40 percent of injuries, the NFPA said.
“Thanksgiving is a hectic holiday with multiple dishes cooking and baking at the same time, and along with guests, entertaining, and other distractions, it can be easy to lose sight of what’s on the stove or in the oven,” said Lorraine Carli, vice president of Outreach and Advocacy at NFPA.
“With all these factors at play, it’s no surprise that we consistently see a dramatic spike in home cooking fires on Thanksgiving,” she said.
