11/22/05 Safe ways to cook turkey

All the recent news of Avian bird flu making its way through Asia and into Europe, and the awareness about the virus and protection efforts here in the U.S., has made even federal officials like U.S.D.A.'s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Director Ron DeHaven into homemaker slash  consumer experts these days. Whether DeHaven has gone recently to talk about Avian flu and federal safeguards, he has included tips on how best to cook poultry, and specifically, that Thanksgiving Day turkey. And he is not the only U.S.D.A. official providing turkey cooking tips. Susan Conley is with U.S.D.A.'s Food Safety and Inspection Service. She says the first thing to do is of course buy that turkey. CONLEY: You need to decide what size turkey you are going to buy. And a good rule of thumb is a pound to a pound to a half per person. And with Thanksgiving just two days away, any bird purchased between now and tomorrow should be kept in the frig. But for those who bought their turkeys earlier and kept them frozen, if it has been not taken out for thawing yet, there is not a moment to lose. CONLEY: For optimal safety, the turkey should be thawed in the refrigerator and it takes about twenty four hours for every five pounds of turkey. So if you have a twenty pound turkey you should start thawing four to five days before you're going to prepare it. For a faster thaw, a turkey can be placed in cold water, with a thaw rate of thirty minutes for every pound of turkey, or via the microwave per manufacturer's instructions. Chill is one aspect of U.S.D.A.'s four part poultry safe preparation campaign. Other aspects include clean, as in keeping hands and surfaces washed often, separate raw meat from other food items, and cook. But what if someone does the traditional preparation of stuffing roasted inside the bird cavity. CONLEY: If you are going to stuff the bird, you should stuff prior to putting the turkey into the oven. And that means removing the giblets from the cavity and neck area, and cooking those separately. And finally there is the best way to prevent food bourne illness in the Thanksgiving turkey&cook it at proper temperature. CONLEY: Set your oven at no lower than 325 degrees for optimal safety. You may want to tint it with some foil. It should be thoroughly cooked. It should take about twenty minutes per pound. Conley adds that any questions about turkey preparations can be addressed through U.S.D.A's Meat and Poultry Hotline. The number to call is 1-888-674-6854.