Health Canada pulls holiday recommendations from its ass

Posted: December 14th, 2007 - 5:49pm by Doug Powell

Health Canada says that 11 to 13 million of Canada's 33 million people will get sick from food each year.

But,

"You can help reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses for your family and friends during the holiday season by following some basic food safety tips."

If it's basic, why are so many people getting sick?

The Canadians at least have it right by saying,

"If cooking a turkey for a holiday meal, use a digital food thermometer to make sure it is cooked properly."

That's so much better than the Brits and the Irish.

But then, Health Canada says,

"The temperature of the thickest part of the breast or thigh should be at least 85 degrees C (185 degrees F)."

No one knows where this recommendation comes from. In the U.S., the recommendation is 165 F, and anyone can figure out where it came from. Apparently no one asks such questions in Canada.
Your rating: None
Bookmark and Share
Categories: Food Safety Policy, Raw Food
Tags: Canada, Public Health, Turkey

Comments

Phyllis Entis says:

Health Canada is suffering from an abundance of caution - or they like very dry turkey.We ran an experiment on our Thanksgiving turkey. We placed the oven's automatic meat probe into the thickest part of the breast of a 12-pound bird, and a second dial-type thermometer probe into the center of the stuffing-filled cavity. The relative calibration of the two thermometers was no more than 1?F.By the time the temperature of the center of the stuffed cavity reached the recommended 165?F, the meat was a full 10?F hotter; it attained 175?F.My recommendation, when cooking a stuffed turkey, is to place the thermometer at the center of the stuffed cavity.Phyllisefoodalert.blogspot.com

Posted on December 15th, 2007 - 10:39am

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.