Stuffing and Nonsense

The Irish Food Safety Promotion Board has just released its recommendations for safely stuffing and cooking a Christmas turkey. Their web site offers time/oven temperature recommendations for gas or electric ovens, with or without convection. They have even provided a recipe for the stuffing. But their suggestions for determining when the turkey has been safely cooked leave something to be desired. Specifically, the Board cautions,

"And remember, always make sure your cooked turkey is piping hot all the way through, with no pink meat, and all the juices run clear."

Has the Irish Food Safety Promotion Board never heard of meat thermometers? In my post-Thanksgiving "Turkey P.S." posting of November 23rd, I reported that the internal temperature of the cavity stuffing was 10ºF lower than the temperature in the thickest part of the breast meat. A fully-cooked turkey is no guarantee of safe stuffing.

Please remember - always use a meat thermometer. Place it in the center of the stuffing and cook that turkey until the temperature of the meat thermometer reaches 165ºF (74ºC). This is the ONLY way to be sure that your Christmas turkey and its stuffing won't come back to haunt you after your Christmas dinner.