By Ben Nuelle
One in six Americans get food borne illness every year. What to do with all of those Thanksgiving left-overs? Kristina Beaugh is with Food Safety Education at the USDA. She says 48 million people get food borne illness every year.
?Out of that number 3,000 people actually die from food-borne illness so people actually die so it is a pretty serious thing. Healthy people like us who have healthy immune systems it?s not a big deal. We might get an upset stomach or feel a little nauseous but after a few hours we?re ok. For young children, older adults, people with cancer, pregnant women or people who have weakened immune systems it?s a really big deal because their bodies cannot fight off the infection,? Beaugh said.
She says leaving holiday left-overs out too long is not good.
?Left-overs should not sit out for more than two hours at room temperature. Otherwise, you?ll have to throw that good food away. Sometimes the best part of Thanksgiving is that turkey sandwich after right? Those left-overs need to be stored in a shallow sealed container and put in the refrigerator. They are good for three or four days. So that would be until Monday. If you don?t use them by that Monday, you can put them in the freezer and for best quality you should eat them in six months,? Beaugh said.
With Christmas right around the corner, more cooking will take place. The USDA has a hotline with food safety experts available to answer your questions Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. until 4:00p.m. Eastern time. Their number is 1-888-674-6854.
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