Not to put a dampener on it, but the festive season is a peak time to get food poisoning.
As Dr Kevin Hargin, former head of foodborne disease control at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), said: ‘People buy a lot more food than usual, they’re catering for bigger numbers, their fridges are over-stuffed and not working efficiently, and food gets left out for longer than it would otherwise — all these things contribute to the increase in food poisoning cases just after Christmas.’
What’s more, a new survey commissioned by the Food Standards Agency this year revealed that 33 per cent of people don’t always wash their hands before cooking or preparing food at home.
‘Our new data shows us that people are taking some unnecessary and avoidable risks in the way they cook, prepare and store food,’ says Robin May, chief scientific advisor at the FSA.
When it comes to seasonal food poisoning however, the Christmas turkey is the prime culprit, according to Dr Lisa Ackerley, a hygiene and public health expert — whether it’s on the day itself, or eaten as leftovers.
The problem is partly failing to cook the turkey properly, so bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter can survive.
But a bigger issue is contamination from handling the raw meat, says Dr Ackerley, who works with hygiene consultancy Acoura.
Most food poisoning is caused by campylobacter, a bacterium linked to 280,000 cases of food poisoning every year, and as many as 100 deaths.
The festive season is a peak time to get food poisoning, writes JENNIE AGG
It can be found in red meat and untreated water, but poultry is thought to account for four out of five cases of campylobacter food poisoning.
The bacteria live in the bird’s guts and spread — to the skin, for example — when it’s slaughtered.
Campylobacter typically causes vomiting and diarrhoea around two to five days after eating contaminated food (though it can occur up to ten days later).
It takes just a few campylobacter bacteria to make you ill — and it spreads easily, which is why experts advise particular care handling raw meat.
‘It seems it’s often the cook who gets ill from campylobacter,’ says Dr Ackerley.
Other food poisoning bugs that the cook — and guests — can catch from poultry and meat include salmonella and clostridium perfringens, an organism found in soil (so it can end up on veg, too).
Clostridium perfringens is more of problem with leftovers because while cooking kills any fully-formed bacteria cells it doesn’t always destroy its spores (precursor organisms that can develop into the bacteria cells).
These spores are harmless when eaten straight after cooking. However, they can germinate and then multiply in cooling leftovers — especially if they’re left out of the fridge for a long time.
The problem is partly failing to cook the turkey properly, so bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter can survive, but also contamination from handling the raw meat
So what can you do to limit the risk of your turkey causing food poisoning? The first pitfall is not defrosting a frozen turkey for long enough. Ideally, this should be done in the fridge.
‘It takes 12 hours per kilogram in a fridge at 4c,’ says Dr Hargin. So a 3kg turkey would need a day and a half to defrost.
’Outside a fridge — ideally somewhere cool (no warmer than 15-16c) — you need to allow four hours per kilo.
‘If it’s still partly frozen when it goes into the oven, it won’t cook properly and so all the microorganisms won’t be killed off,’ Dr Hargin explains.
But a potentially greater risk is cross-contamination — spreading bugs, particularly campylobacter, from raw poultry to kitchen surfaces, hands and even cooked food.
Just how easily bacteria can spread while you prepare your Christmas lunch can be seen in these fascinating pictures.
We covered a turkey with a special gel and powder that mimics how bacteria cling to surfaces — these ‘bacteria’ glow a bright blue-white under a UV light.
I then prepared the turkey for cooking in the usual way, and with the help of Dr Ackerley, mapped the journey of bacteria around the kitchen — with advice on how YOU can avoid the same pitfalls…
YOUR HANDS
After rubbing the turkey with oil and then stuffing it, this picture shows how my hands have been left a glowing blue-white — imitating how bacteria would have transferred to them from the turkey.
A quick rinse of my hands and I’m ready to carry on. But it takes more than that to get hands clean. My hands feel clean, but there are still tell-tale gleams of bacteria, especially in the crescents around the nails.
Careful! A potentially greater risk than under-cooking is cross-contamination — spreading bugs, particularly campylobacter, from raw poultry to kitchen surfaces, hands and even cooked food
‘So, every time you go to get something out of a cupboard or the fridge you’ll spread bacteria around the kitchen,’ says Dr Ackerley. You might also touch your face, or someone else’s hands.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap, says Dr Ackerley, who washes hers twice after handling raw meat.
‘Pay particular attention to the nails and in between the fingers, and scrub your nails against your palms.
’I don’t stuff our turkey at Christmas, partly because it minimises how much you have to handle it and also because it affects cooking time,’ says Dr Ackerley.
‘I have also been known to use two forks or utensils to manhandle it into the tray so I don’t have to touch it.’
THE SINK AND WORK SURFACE
Up to half of us wash a turkey before cooking, according to research from the University of Manchester. This is a ‘total nightmare’ says Dr Ackerley.
Not only is it unnecessary, as cooking will kill off the bugs, but washing the turkey will actually spread campylobacter around more, as you can see from the blue areas in the picture below.
Up to half of us wash a turkey before cooking, according to research from the University of Manchester. This is a ‘total nightmare’ says Dr Ackerley
Campylobacter can survive on a hard surface for four hours
The water splashes everywhere, taking bacteria with it — to the tap, the backsplash, and the draining board (see it sitting in the water around the ‘clean’ glasses you’re about to use). There were even bacteria on the kitchen blind cord.
Campylobacter can survive on a hard surface for four hours. If you use the sink to prepare food that won’t be cooked — such as salad — bacteria could transfer to it.
The surface where I’d cut the turkey out of the pack (inset) was also left with a blue-white swirl of ‘bacteria’ across it, transferred from the packaging — poultry wrapping is known to carry campylobacter on the outside.
‘Use a separate bag to carry raw poultry from the shop, and after you’ve prepared the turkey, clean everywhere it has been — including the fridge,’ recommends Dr Ackerley.
And don’t rinse the pack before binning it. ‘Washing packaging carries the same risks as washing the bird — a complete no-no.’
KITCHEN ROLL
This was splashed with bacteria when the turkey was washed. If you dry your hands on it, the bacteria shown here could be transferred on to them, which happens more easily when hands are wet, says Dr Ackerley.
If you dry your hands on kitchen paper, the bacteria shown here could be transferred on to them
You could also spread bacteria on to worktops if you use it for cleaning.
Obviously, it’s important to wash your hands thoroughly, but just in case you miss anything, it’s best to dry your hands on kitchen paper.
‘At least you throw it away rather than transferring the bacteria on to a towel that somebody else might use,’ says Dr Ackerley.
Bacteria such as E.coli and salmonella flourish on a damp towel — ‘it’s a near perfect environment, the towel is damp, the kitchen is usually warm. Bacteria can double their number on a tea towel in 20 minutes — just one bacterium can multiply to a million in seven hours.’
SALT CELLAR
There go my bacteria-covered fingers, still glowing blue even after I’d ‘cleaned’ them, ready to transfer bacteria to the seasoning which the next user could then pick up.
Bacteria could survive for about four hours on the rim of the salt pig as well as on the salt itself.
Bacteria could survive for about four hours on the rim of the dish as well as on the salt itself
Bacteria were also transferred to the pepper grinder (not shown) — a worry, as its next stop would be the dining table, along with the cooked Christmas dinner . . .
That’s not icing sugar — the blue-white patches are where bacteria has been splashed from the sink when the turkey was washed. (They were resting on a tray on the windowsill behind the sink).
FRIDGE DOOR AND BASTING BUTTER
Grabbing butter to add to the roasting tin at the last minute left a smear of bacteria from my hands on the fridge door handle (below, right) — the same happens on the oven door, not shown.
There’s bacteria on the butter pack, too (below, left), which then went back in the fridge.
Grabbing butter to add to the roasting tin left a smear of bacteria from my hands on the fridge door handle – and the butter itself, which went back into the fridge
As well as the risk of transferring campylobacter to the hands of anyone who came into the kitchen looking for a pre-dinner snack or drink, other bugs could flourish inside the fridge, especially if it’s over-filled.
‘Fridges work by circulating cool air,’ explains Dr Hargin. ‘If you pack a fridge solid, it can’t do this, so food in the middle can sit there at 15-20c, a nice temperature for bugs.’
YOUR APRON
It’s natural to wipe sticky hands on your pinny, but this picture shows how just briefly patting them before picking up the roasting tin has left gleaming streaks of bacteria across the front of the apron — a problem as you’re likely to touch the apron again.
‘I’d recommend putting the apron straight in a hot wash (at least 60c) as soon as the raw turkey is in the oven,’ says Dr Ackerley.
‘I’d recommend putting the apron straight in a hot wash (at least 60c) as soon as the raw turkey is in the oven,’ says Dr Ackerley
MINCE PIES
The blue/white patches are where bacteria has been splashed from the sink when the turkey was washed
That’s not icing sugar — the blue-white patches are where bacteria has been splashed from the sink when the turkey was washed. (They were resting on a tray on the windowsill behind the sink).
CONTAMINATED CUPPA
The turkey is in the oven, and it’s time for a well-deserved cup of tea — but, as this picture shows, making it leaves a smudge of bacteria on both the switch and kettle handle as well as on the rim of the mug, ready to be transferred right into my mouth — as well as on to the hands of anyone else who uses the kettle after me.
‘A lot of people have a drink while making Christmas lunch, but this shows that you do need to be a bit careful,’ says Dr Ackerley.
A simple cuppa leaves a smudge of bacteria on both the switch and kettle handle as well as on the rim of the mug, ready to be transferred right into your mouth
But providing you stick to some basic precautions, you don’t have to be obsessive about it.
First, get what you’re likely to need to prepare the turkey — pans, utensils, oil/butter, seasoning — in advance before you touch the raw bird to avoid having to keep washing your hands.
‘Do not wash your turkey before cooking, but make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after the turkey is in the oven — but before you start any other dinner prep.
‘And do a quick run-down of everything you’ve touched and where the raw turkey’s been and give it all a quick clean using an antibacterial spray or wipe,’ advises Dr Ackerley.
