WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Turkey Germs

Turkey Germs

It's a fact...no talkin' turkey here...the bird you buy could be laden with bacteria.  Everything from e-coli and salmonella, to those that could cause more serious illness like listeria.

So how do you know if yours is safe?

We decide to take a fresh turkey to the experts to find out.

Dr. Tung-Shi Huang is an associate professor in Nutrition and Food Science at Auburn University...he's done extensive research in the area of bacteria and poultry, including methods of more advanced testing.

He's going to test our turkey for e-coli and salmonella.

After cutting small pieces of the bird for samples...he prepares a buffer solution...then mixes the two.

"Okay, after it's mixed, you can see sample very homogenized," says Huang.

He then takes a solution to use for testing.  We'll have to wait 24 hours for the results of the e-coli and 48 for salmonella.

The news turns out to be very good...

Dr. Huang finds only small traces of e-coli and the salmonella tests were completely negative.

This won't kill you or make you sick, but it's certainly enough to make you think.

"If you cook properly, you can pretty much kill them all," says Huang.

Which brings us to the next point.

Safe handling and cooking of a turkey actually begins in the grocery store.

"If there's a little nick in this nice heavy plastic, that the turkey's wrapped in, then that could let bacteria in and we don't want to do that," says Joanne Cavis of Muscogee County Cooperative Extension.

Nor do we want to allow juices from a thawing turkey get on other items in the fridge, so place the bird on a tray and store at the bottom.

As for thawing...

"For every four pounds of turkey, you'd want to allow 24 hours to thaw in the refrigerator," says Cavis.

Or you can buy a fresh turkey, but those need to be cooked within a day of purchase.

Next, wash your hands and sanitize the work area before and after preparing the turkey.

"Your poultry needs to be cooked at an oven temperature of 325 to 350 degrees, that way it's hot enough to get good heat penetration, fast enough to kill any bacteria that are there," says Cavis.

And those days of cooking a turkey all night long are over.

Turkeys are much leaner these days and require about 15 to 20 minutes per pound.

The bird should reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees.

But even then...the threat isn't over.

What's left of the turkey should be stored in a cold fridge in small pieces.

Because if left out...just remember, bacteria can multiply by the minute.

"You've annihilated enough so that they're not going to make us sick...but just remember, you don't have a 100% kill rate," says Cavis.