Though food plays a central role in celebrations throughout the year, Thanksgiving in particular has long revolved around feasting with friends and loved ones. Unfortunately, as with any meal, eating contaminated or improperly prepared culinary favorites can greatly hinder one's enjoyment of the holiday season. Here are five Thanksgiving foods that families should take special care to prepare safely.
Home-Canned Green Beans: Beware of botulism!
If you're serving home-canned green beans with your Thanksgiving dinner, you'll want to be careful of one of the most notorious food poisoning risks around: Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that can contaminate preserved vegetable, meat, and fish products, according to the World Health Organization. The organism thrives in the absence of oxygen and can form structures called endospores that allow it to survive extremely high temperatures - making it well-suited for growth in home-canned green beans, which unfortunately lack the acidity required to inhibit the bacterium's growth. Even small amounts of the neurotoxin produced by C. botulinum can lead to severe neurological and intestinal symptoms that culminate in the paralysis of the respiratory system, leading to death in up to 10% of victims.
To stay safe from botulism this holiday, the National Center for Home Food Preservation recommends that you only eat preserved green beans prepared through the pressure canning process (not through boiling water or oven canning, which do not achieve standard, consistent temperatures guaranteed to eliminate the bacterium and toxin). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise that you avoid eating any canned product with obvious damage or swelling and suggest boiling green beans and other low-pH canned vegetables before consumption. Because there may be no visual or olfactory evidence of contamination, it is important to take precautions regardless of the apparent integrity of the can or jar.
Mashed Potatoes: Green means solanine.
If you're making mashed potatoes for your Thanksgiving dinner, you'll want to keep an eye out for any sign of green on your tubers. This isn't necessarily an indicator of microbial growth; according to Michigan State University, this discoloration merely results from the chlorophyll produced by potatoes stored in well-lit areas. However, these green portions of the potato (in addition to having an unpleasant flavor) typically also produce solanine, a toxin that can result in unusually high or low body temperature, head pain, intestinal discomfort, and decreased pulse and respiration rates.
The Colorado Integrated Food Safety Center says that the easiest way to avoid this food poisoning risk involves removing green flesh from the tuber with a knife and never eating the plant's leaves or stems, which contain high concentrations of the toxin to ward off pests and grazing animals. During storage, greening can be prevented by keeping the potatoes in a dark, temperature-controlled environment.
Pumpkin Pie: Stay safe from Salmonella!
As with any dessert made with eggs, improperly prepared pumpkin pie carries the risk of being contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the resulting food infection (known as salmonellosis) can ruin your Thanksgiving with abdominal pain, pyrexia, and diarrhea between six hours and four days after consumption, with symptoms persisting for up to a week. Severe infections can result in dehydration due to loss of liquids through vomiting and may even lead to death if the disease makes it into the bloodstream.
To avoid this unpleasant illness, great care must be taken when making and storing pumpkin pie and other food items containing eggs. Michigan State University advises that eggs be kept chilled until use, which inhibits the growth of the bacterium on both the exterior and the interior of the shell. After baking (during which heat should eliminate most of the contamination risk), pumpkin pie should not be left at room temperature for longer than two hours; any leftovers should go into the refrigerator as soon as guests are done eating.
Gravy: Great for Clostridium perfringens
Gravy also poses a potential food safety risk via Clostridium perfringens contamination. The North Dakota Department of Health warns that, like its cousin Clostridium botulinum, C. perfringens causes illness through the production of toxins, which may produce gastrointestinal symptoms ranging from diarrhea to stomach discomfort. Though most victims feel better within 24 hours after onset, small children and older patients can continue to suffer from the resulting illness for up to two weeks. Cooking triggers the formation of durable but dormant spores that may reactivate into fully functional cells as the gravy (or other meat-based product) sits at room temperature (or any temperature between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit) for extended periods.
Much like Salmonella on pumpkin pie, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say C. perfringens infection can be avoided by refrigerating the gravy before two hours have passed at room temperature and reheating it before future use. This discourages bacterial germination from any spores that might remain in the dish.
Turkey: Contaminated with Campylobacter
Last but not least, we come to the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner: the turkey. Though turkey can host a number of foodborne pathogens already mentioned on this list (including Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens), I've chosen to conclude our journey with Campylobacter, a bacterium that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, often resides in the digestive organs of chickens, cows, and turkeys. When humans consume poultry that has not been adequately cooked (or foods that have been contaminated with its raw juices), they can contract an illness characterized by pyrexia, stomach pain, and diarrhea with a duration of up to seven days. Most experience a complete recovery, but the immunocompromised are vulnerable to septicemia and may die if left untreated.
Avoiding Campylobacter infection begins with proper thawing of the turkey, which Utah State University advises should be achieved no more than one or two days in advance of cooking (or immediately if using the cold water or microwave method). It warns that, due to the ideal environment for bacterial growth enabled by room temperature conditions, turkey should never be left on the counter to thaw. The cooking process must occur at a minimum of 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and the person preparing the meal can use a meat thermometer to ensure the flesh on the bird's thigh has achieved a temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Following consumption, the same two-hour rule for refrigeration applies to turkey as it does for the foods listed above.
Stay safe and have a happy Thanksgiving!
