NOVEMBER 15  IS NATIONAL "CLEAN YOUR REFRIGERATOR" DAY If you are one of those people who cleans your refrigerator once a year.... mark your calendars!  Nobody seems to know when this became an national day or exactly why, but it is becoming a tradition.  We can presume the reason is to make room for the largest turkey you could find or perhaps to get rid of stuff that hadn't been used in a year and had become an unidentifiable science project.  But there are some solid reasons for why you should make this a regular habit.

THE HOLIDAYS ARE A TIME TO FOCUS ON FOOD SAFETY.

Food safety professionals would argue that any time is the best time to focus on food safety, but most of us think of it more around this time of year.  We probably know all of the basics but don't understand the why's of food safety. 

Without turning this into a college level course on microbiology here are some tips for the home chef:

• WASH YOUR HANDS, and do it often.  Wash the hands of your "little helpers" and supervise their kitchen activities.  Forget about anti-bacterial soap; the purpose of handwashing is to remove the germs from surfaces, and send them down the drain.

• KEEP SURFACES CLEAN.  Clean food contact surfaces often with hot soapy water, and let them air dry.

• DON'T CROSS CONTAMINATE.  Avoid contaminated food that is already cooked or will not be cooked, with juices or used utensils from raw meats. Don't ever place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood or eggs.

• COOK FOODS TO PROPER TEMPERATURES.  This means the proper internal temperature, which varies for various types of food.  Get a good digital thermometer that is tip sensitive.

• COOL FOODS PROPERLY.  Putting large pots of soups, stews, and gravy, as well as large quantities of cooked meats directly into the refrigerator can be a recipe for disaster.  Some bacteria actually can live through the cooking process and will start growing again at warm temperatures, producing toxins.  Use shallow pans (2-3 inches) to cool food and then repackage it for storage if necessary.