For Immediate Release: (Insert date)

Cooking for a Crowd

Food-borne illness outbreaks can occur with any large gathering - in winter or summer. The following tips should be helpful in preventing food-borne illness the next time you cook for a crowd.

Follow basic food safety guidelines while cooking for large groups - wash your hands for twenty seconds with warm soapy water before you start to cook; make sure food preparation surfaces are clean and sanitized. Wash your hands and utensils again when you switch from handling raw to ready-to-eat or cooked foods.

Follow safe cooking temperatures and use a food thermometer while cooking meats. To be safe, ground poultry should be cooked to 165 degrees; other ground meats should be cooked to 160 degrees. Beef, veal and fish should be cooked to 145 degrees or higher; pork and lamb products should be cooked at least 155 degrees; and poultry should be cooked to 165 degrees. We often use larger quantities of meat when cooking for crowds. To safely thaw meats, thaw them on the lower shelf of your refrigerator. To thaw meat more quickly, use a clean sink and running cool water over the unwrapped meat for less than two hours. You can also thaw unwrapped meats in your microwave, turning the meat often to avoid 'hot spots' and 'frozen spots.' Meats thawed under cool running water or in a microwave should be cooked immediately after thawing.

Be aware of the "Temperature Danger Zone!" Perishable foods should not remain at room temperature for longer than two hours. Keep hot foods above 140 degrees F, and cold foods below 41 degrees F, to prevent entry into the "danger zone" where food-borne microbes multiply rapidly. Accomplish this, for example, by placing bowls of salad into larger bowls of ice or by maintaining a heat source for hot items.

When you cook for a crowd, one trick for managing time is cooking ahead. But when you prepare foods in advance of serving them, cool them quickly. To do so, divide the food into smaller pieces or portions and place in shallow containers. Loosely cover the containers, and refrigerate immediately so the food cools quickly to be safe for later use. Large quantities of hot soup, stock, or stew can be cooled by placing the pot in a sink filled with cold water and stirring to expose all the hot liquid to the metal sides of the pan. As the water becomes warmer, replace it with fresh cold water. Adding ice to the water or directly to the contents of the pot will speed up the cooling process. When cooled considerably, refrigerate the contents into smaller containers. To cool soup, stock or stew you can also use an "ice paddle" or "cooling wand". To make your own "ice paddle" wash and sanitize a plastic 1-2 liter bottle. Remove the label, partially fill the bottle with water, and freeze it solid. Use the ice paddle to stir your liquid item to cool it quickly before transferring it to refrigerator containers.

When reheating previously cooked items, heat them to a minimum of 165 degrees. Hot dogs and other pre-cooked meats should also be heated to 165 degrees before they are eaten. This is especially important for pregnant women, small children, and the elderly, all of whom are at increased risk for listeria, a food-borne illness that can be caused by a pathogen found in processed meat products.

Following these basic food safety steps can help you safely cook for a crowd. Source: Donna Birkholz, University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Area Educator. For more information contact (insert agency, name & phone number here) or check your University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service food and nutrition website at www.uwyo.edu/cesnutrition.

Wyoming Food Safety Coalition training members are from Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service; Wyoming Department of Agriculture; and City/County Health Departments

The University of Wyoming and United States Department of Agriculture cooperating.
The University of Wyoming is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

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