Uncategorized | Partnership for Food Safety Education

How to Cook a Thanksgiving Meal So People Don’t Get Sick

November 24, 2025

Authored by: Addy Gray-Johnson, MPH student, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The secret to a safe and delicious Thanksgiving is simple: keep things clean, separate raw foods, cook to the right temperatures, and chill leftovers quickly. These four steps help prevent food poisoning and make your holiday meal both joyful and safe for everyone at the table.

Start the Holidays Right—With Clean Hands and Clean Spaces

A great Thanksgiving meal begins long before the turkey hits the oven.

Keep Clean With These Simple Habits

● Wash your hands with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds (sing the chorus of your favorite holiday song!)
● Rinse fruits and vegetables under running water
● Clean cutting boards, countertops, and utensils before switching tasks
A clean kitchen is your first line of defense—and your guests will thank you for it.

Avoid Cross-Contamination: Keep Foods Separate

Raw turkey and ready-to-eat foods don’t play well together. Keep them apart to prevent harmful bacteria from spreading.

Separation Made Simple

● Use one cutting board for raw meat and another for produce
● Store raw turkey, poultry, seafood, and eggs away from other foods
● It’s recommended not to return cooked food to a plate that held raw ingredients

Think of it as giving your ingredients their own “holiday bubble.”

Cook It Right—Temperature Matters More Than Timing

Your oven timer can’t tell you whether your turkey is safe—the food thermometer is
your holiday hero.

Temperature Tips for a Safe Feast

● Cook turkey to an internal temperature of 165°F
● Check in three spots: thickest part of the breast, innermost thigh, and innermost wing.
● Reheat leftovers to 165°F
● Stir microwaved foods to eliminate cold spots where bacteria love to hide.
If you check the temperature, you won’t have to check on your family from the ER later.

Chill Out—Literally

The holiday hustle can be chaotic, but your food should never sit out and “relax” too long.

Keep Leftovers Safe

● Refrigerate leftovers with 2 hours
● Put perishables (meat, poultry, eggs, dairy) in the fridge immediately after shopping.
● Thaw frozen foods safely in the fridge, cold water, or microwave, never on the counter.
Cold temperatures slow bacterial growth, so make sure your fridge is set to 40°F or below.

A Safe Holiday Is a Happy Holiday

When you follow the Core Four: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill, you protect your family from food poisoning and keep the holiday festivities focused on fun, gratitude, and great food.

For more food safety tips, recipes, and resources, visit FightBAC.org. Here’s to a safe, tasty, and joy-filled Thanksgiving!

Call for Volunteers: Apply Online Now!

August 13, 2024

The Partnership is looking for volunteers to assist with communications and marketing, donor relations, program management and translation.

Ideal candidates have an interest in public health, food safety, strategic planning, and/or marketing and communications. Applicants can be current students, recent graduates or working professionals.

Volunteer Projects

Communications and marketing planning: Create and write a social media and marketing plan
Donor relations: Help manage donor records, donor benefit fulfillment and assist in creating ideas for engaging donors in our mission (You will not be asking people for financial support. This is a behind the scenes role.)
Programming: Manage program data and prepare summary reports
Translation and review: Translate food safety education resources, review for scientific accuracy, identify resources for update and create a directory of resources

Volunteers will work remotely but within a team dynamic with the Partnership’s team. Flexible schedule that can be developed mutually. Must be willing to meet virtually via Zoom or Google to discuss projects (will be arranged beforehand).

Benefits of Volunteering

Contribute to consumer food safety education and helping to keep people healthy.
Learn more about the consumer food safety education sector while adding to your skills with a project you can use as work example.
Opportunity for students or young professionals wanting to develop more experience or anyone looking for a way to give back.

Please send a formal interest letter or email to Britanny Saunier at bsaunier@fightbac.org. Include your interest in the topics above, why this is important to you, anything about your academic or professional background that may apply, and your anticipated availability.

Consumer Food Safety Nonprofit Announces Britanny Saunier as Next Executive Director

September 20, 2021

The nonprofit Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) has selected Britanny Saunier, the current director of development, as its new executive director effective September 20, 2021. Saunier succeeds Shelley Feist who recently resigned after 18 years of service to PFSE.

Following a deep passion for preventing foodborne illnesses, Saunier first joined PFSE in 2011 as an intern. She quickly moved up the ranks as a development and communications associate, supporting PFSE program development and donor stewardship. In 2017, Saunier was promoted to director of development. In this capacity, she has successfully increased PFSE’s program service revenue and brought diversification to PFSE’s Partner network.

She has facilitated program engagement with consumer and academic food safety experts, supported PFSE programs, including the National Consumer Food Safety Education Conference.

“On behalf of the Partnership’s Board of Directors, I am very excited to have a person of Britanny’s caliber as our next executive director,” said Michael Roberson, PFSE board chair and director of corporate quality assurance at Publix Super Markets. “Britanny has a passion and track record of delivering world-class food safety service to our BAC Fighters across the nation and we look forward to the Partnership’s future success with Britanny’s leadership, creativity, collaborative approach and commitment to consumer education.”

Saunier holds a master’s in public administration with a health policy focus from the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelor of arts in political science from Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. As executive director, Saunier will work closely with PFSE staff, Board of Directors, Partners and Federal Liaisons to ensure that PFSE is effectively supporting the 13,000 health and food safety educators it serves with science-based and FREE safe food handling information for community dissemination to 8.5 million households across the U.S.

“I am beyond honored to be selected as the next executive director of the Partnership for Food Safety Education,” Saunier said. “This next year will mark the 25th anniversary of the Partnership, and I can’t wait to work with our health and food safety educators to help bend the curve of foodborne illness.”

Read the press release on PR Newswire

Download a PDF of the release

Prep Yourself: Food Is On the Way!

August 30, 2021

Partnership for Food Safety Education behind first national food safety campaign for food delivery

Press Release (Aug. 30, 2021)

Responding to the increasing use of food delivery services and as National Food Safety Education Month kicks off, the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) has launched a new national campaign to help food delivery users ensure the safety of their delivered foods. Prep Yourself: Food Is on the Way, the first national food safety campaign specifically targeting users of food delivery services, seeks to encourage safe food handling at home and educate consumers on what to consider when ordering from food delivery services.

“The coronavirus pandemic kicked food delivery usage into overdrive,” said Shelley Feist, executive director of PFSE. “We’re excited to have led the expert collaboration behind these new, consumer-tested resources. Using this campaign is a great way to start a conversation with people who want to ensure health and safety when ordering food to be delivered.”

Food delivery services include meal kits, restaurant delivery and grocery delivery. According to an April 2020 survey conducted by Statista, over one-third of both suburban and urban respondents said they used online food delivery services or restaurant apps to order food. According to the 2021 Food and Health Survey conducted by the International Food Information Council, 72% of Americans say the pandemic is changing the way they eat and prepare food. This study showed 42% of consumers are shopping for groceries online at least monthly.

“Where consumers get their food has changed, from around the corner to around the world. With foods now delivered to their homes by a variety of delivery models, empowering consumers with the knowledge they need to keep their families safe is key to the prevention of foodborne illnesses and a central tenet of FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” said Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “We are grateful for the good work done by the Partnership for Food Safety Education to provide consumers with food safety educational messages during these changing times.”

Prep Yourself: Food Is on the Way includes digital advertising, social media, and print collateral that can be integrated into food delivery service provider communications or other food safety educator communications. With a suite of downloadable resources, the PFSE encourages anyone who is interested in communicating about food safety in the delivery space to access the free materials. The PFSE will be utilizing the campaign resources throughout the month of September, National Food Safety Education Month, and beyond.

“The food industry needs resources to help communicate with consumers amid this changing landscape,” said Steven Mandernach of the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO). “PFSE’s new Prep Yourself campaign will help food safety experts and other people who deal with consumers in the food safety space reach consumers with important information about how to keep food safe at home. We’re in a new era of food safety, and it requires that everyone understand their role in maintaining the safety of our food from the farm to our tables.”

The Partnership for Food Safety Education recognizes AFDO, Instacart and Sysco for their support of Prep Yourself: Food Is on the Way.

On Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021, PFSE and AFDO co-hosted a webinar that brought together more than 500 attendees to learn about the new campaign resources. Campaign resources and more information can be found at fightbac.org/prep-yourself. Social media content related to the campaign can be found using #prepyourself.

About the PFSE
The non-profit Partnership for Food Safety Education is the originator of science-based food safety messages and the national leader in developing and disseminating information around the linkage of food safety consumer education with positive health outcomes. Food safety and health educators, and consumers, can download free food safety education information from the Partnership’s website at fightbac.org. The Partnership is the creator and steward of the popular Fight BAC!® national food safety education campaign.

Download a PDF of this press release.

The 18-month process to develop Prep Yourself: Food is on the Way was led by outgoing PFSE Executive Director Shelley Feist. Shelley has served as Executive Director since 2003. She is leaving this role in September 2021 to start her own business.

Home Canning: Top 5 Safety Questions with Dr. Elizabeth Andress

July 20, 2021

This blog post covers the top five questions on home canning.

jars of canned green beans — Dilled green bean jars filled

1. What are core concepts people should keep in mind when we talk about canning preservation?

2. I want to can my own favorite recipe. How do I determine a process so I can preserve my own favorite recipe?

3. Why do I have to process my pickles and jams in a canner? My mother didn’t.

4. Why do I have to use a pressure canner for my soup since I’ve already cooked it?

5. I forgot to vent my pressure canner before processing. Is my food safe?

And a bonus question!

6. How can we get people started with canning? Who should people trust for safety information to get it right?

Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D. is professor emerita, University of Georgia and former Director, National Center for Home Food Preservation.

PFSE Executive Director Shelley Feist spoke with Dr. Andress about the top safety questions related to home canning.

Feist: Elizabeth, thanks for joining us. Before we get into the top five safety questions I had a question. How much of home food preservation is art and how much is science?

Andress: Home food preservation is a science, with there being a little bit of allowance for “art” or creativity in a few methods, such as acid fruit-high sugar jams and dried fruit products. But for the most part, preserving food is a science to be followed to preserve them safely.

Feist: What are core concepts people should keep in mind when we talk about canning preservation?

Andress: Canning is definitely one of the methods of preserving food at home that falls mostly into the “science” of the practice being very important for safety. First, to keep methods standardized and safe, our research-based methods are going to use the terms “raw” or “hot pack.” RAW pack is putting uncooked, but properly prepared, pieces of food into your jar before covering them with hot or boiling liquid. HOT packs include heating the food by a prescribed method before putting it into your jar. The way foods are prepared and heated or not needs to be done the way they are described with the recommended process time.

Two other key terms you will see are “acid” or “low acid.” For the purposes of canning, acid is measured by the pH of the food and a specific cut off is related to the risk of botulism since we are keeping foods at room temperature in vacuum sealed jars. Clostridium botulinum bacteria like a low to no oxygen environment of low-acid foods at room temperature. If a food is over pH 4.6, then the bacteria that produce botulinum toxin will grow out and do so inside the jar if not killed during proper processing. So for canning, we call foods with a pH greater than 4.6 “LOW ACID” foods. Examples are meats, poultry, seafood, vegetables, soup mixes and some fruits. Foods with a pH 4.6 or lower are categorized as “ACID” foods for canning. Examples include many of our fruits, and properly acidified pickles and relishes. The risk of botulism is controlled in acid foods by the low pH, but there are still other pathogenic (harmful) and spoilage microorganisms that can be a problem in canned foods at room temperature if not killed by the amount of heat needed for each type of acid food.

PRESSURE canning is needed for low acid foods since killing the Clostridium botulinum bacteria putting us at risk for botulism are found naturally in foods in a very heat resistant form. (This is a spore form.) Pressure canning allows the environment surrounding the jars in the canning to get above boiling temperatures and accomplish killing of spores in reasonable amounts of time.

BOILING WATER canning is done with jars submerged completely in visibly boiling water over and around them during the whole process time and can be used with acid foods. Just because acid foods don’t put us at risk for botulism, though, there are other pathogenic or harmful bacteria, as well as spoilage organisms, of concern as mentioned above, that need to be killed during the process and before storing the foods.

Finally, canning processes call for a certain amount of HEADSPACE in jars. “Headspace” is the completely empty amount of space to be left above the food and under the lid of the jar. Headspace allows for expansion of foods during processing without allowing it or liquids to come out of the jar, is important in managing the amount of food going into jars for safety of the process, and allows a good vacuum seal to form upon cooling.

Feist: Here’s a common question, "I want to can my own favorite recipe. How do I determine a process so I can preserve my own favorite recipe?"

Andress: So many factors determine the best process to kill bacteria of concern in a sealed jar that will be stored at room temperature and the bottom line is you must have a safe canning process. Some things that play into that safe process include the actual ingredients, how those ingredients are prepared, how the mixture is heated or not before going into your jar and then into the canner, the ratios of liquid to solid ingredients, what the covering liquid is for pieces of food, jar size and shape, and what type of canner you are using.

So, as you can imagine there really aren’t available easy formulas to transfer from one research-based, tested recipe to another.

Mixtures of foods almost always have to have lab tests done to determine the heating pattern and rate in the canner for a specific recipe. And, I think we can all admit that the home environment is not a lab! So, this is very hard to do and not advised. We advise people not to try to do their own canning or preservation formula for a favorite recipe.

Feist: Here’s another common question, "Why do I have to process my pickles and jams in a canner? My mother didn’t."

Andress: There are some very acid pickles and some highly sugared mixtures that might be safe without processing the filled jars in a canner, but they still might spoil if not processed before storing.

Why waste all your ingredients (money) and time only to have the foods mold in the jars as they sit on the shelf? Even a short process can drive air out of the headspace before the lid seals and that can prevent oxidative or oxygen-induced browning of foods as they sit on the shelf. Also, mold spores float around in the air and can get in your jars as you fill the food into them. Molds will grow in acid and high-sugar foods and just need a small amount of oxygen that would be left inside the jar without processing.

This is why it is recommended for safety and quality that you use a canner.

Feist: Let’s talk about a low acid food now. Homemade soup can be so good. A common question is, "Why do I have to use a pressure canner for my soup since I've already cooked it?"

Andress: Remember with low acid foods, the canning process has to kill a very heat resistant form of Clostridium botulinum bacteria called spores. These spores are not killed by normal cooking temperatures. We don't get sick if we eat these spores in cooked foods. However, if the spores sit in a vacuum sealed (air-tight) jar at room temperature in low acid foods, they will grow out into their form (vegetative) that can multiple and produce botulinum toxin in the food. It is this toxin that makes us sick, and unfortunately can ever kill. You can't tell the toxin is in the food by sight or smell; you need to use a properly researched process for low acid foods to kill the spores before storing the food. If the toxin is formed in your food and you eat it, even a very tiny taste of this toxin can kill you. (A related comment is do NOT taste your home canned foods to see if you think they are safe if there is any reason to doubt it.)

Feist: Here's a related question. "I forgot to vent my pressure canner before processing. Is my food safe?"

Andress: Your food can indeed be unsafe from under-processing if you have not vented the air out of the pressure canner before bringing it to pressure to start processing. The temperature inside a pressure canner only reaches what is needed for a tested canning process when the air is vented out of the canner before processing begins. Air mixed in with steam inside the canner lowers the temperature associated with a given pressure. So our research-based processes need the air removed from the canner at the beginning to get to the expected processing temperature inside the canner. It's not just the pressure inside the canner that matters, it is the temperature that has to be associated with the recommended pressure.

Feist: How can we get people started with canning? Who should people trust for safety information to get it right?

Andress: USDA has been the historical source of publicly available, research-based information for home canning. And that means the USDA-affiliated Cooperative Extension System is a source in each state for safe, science-based recommendations also. Some traditional industry members also have sound research behind some of their recommendations, or even use the USDA recommendations, but unfortunately that is not true of all commercial enterprises these days. So the best place to start is your state Extension Service, most of which have local county or area offices, and websites. The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and the National Center for Home Food Preservation website are also great places to start to find the USDA and key state recommendations and resources. And a good reminder is that all of our recommended canning process times from these sources are meant to be used with the preparation procedures and jar sizes found with them, as well as with recommended canners and canner management steps provided.

Feist: Thank you, Dr. Andress! I think you’ve given readers of the Fight BAC! Blog some excellent information to get started with home canning. Thanks so much for sharing your incredible knowledge on home canning.

Check out the Partnership for Food Safety Education Facebook page to access a video interview with Dr. Elizabeth Andress.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Elizabeth Andress.