Health Department shares tips on food safety ahead of Thanksgiving

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF)- Thanksgiving is two weeks away and folks will begin preparing food. 

The Hamilton County Health Department is urging folks to practice food safety ahead of the holiday. 

“Our department of environmental health deals with food safety in all restaurants all over Hamilton County. So day in and day out, we are teaching food safety, good food safety practices, talking to restaurants and chefs about how to safely prepare all the food that they’re serving,” said Ryan Brown, Hamilton County Health Department. 

According to the Health Department, More than 40 million people get sick from foodborne illness each year.

Brown explains why it is important to prepare food safely. 

“Thanksgiving is a time when people are cooking lots of food. There could be large amounts of food. They are feeding lots of people, and that is where a lot of things can go wrong,” said Brown.”We want to make sure people are doing the right thing to prepare food safely so that we do not get sick.”

Before the Thanksgiving food is placed on the table. 

Brown shares tips on what to do in the kitchen on Thanksgiving. 

“If people are handling any kind of raw meats, whether it is raw Turkey, cooking that Turkey or other things that they are washing their hands before and they ae thinking about cross contamination,” said Brown. “So they are not touching raw turkey or other raw meats and then handling salads or fresh ready to eat foods.”

And Brown believes being careful when prepping food will allow folks to enjoy dinner with family. 

“We want people to do everything as safe as possible, so that they can enjoy time with their family and not worry about all the different things that could could get people sick that they can enjoy time with their family, and food that they’re eating, and not worry about all the all the other things that could happen with food contamination,” Brown concluded.