Holiday celebrations typically center on family and, of course, the family meal. You worry about how the food will look and taste, but you should also be concerned about the safety of food preparation to avoid illness. Will unexpected guests like salmonella, staph, campylobacter, e.coli, and other unwanted bacteria find their way to your dinner table this year?

Food borne illnesses can easily surface when many people are preparing holiday dishes at the same time (i.e. cross contamination) or when the food is left out on the counter or table for several hours. As a result, food poisoning episodes spike during the holiday season, says Dr. Kathleen L. D’Ovidio, assistant professor of food science at Delaware Valley College.

Here are tips from Dr. D’Ovidia and Alice Fly, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Indiana University Bloomington, for banishing bacteria from your holiday menu, so everyone can enjoy a delicious (and safe) entrée:

Good habits for holiday cooking (or every day food preparation):

Keep everything sanitary. Wash hands often for 20 seconds with soap and water. Clean counters with paper towels or cloths that can be disposed of or cleaned regularly. Wash fresh fruits and vegetables under running water, not water standing in the sink.

Store raw meat separate from prepared foods. Do this at the grocery store, in the refrigerator, and while cooking. Use separate utensils and cutting boards for raw meat, poultry, and seafood because these may harbor more hazardous microorganisms than other foods.

Cook meat thoroughly ─ enough to kill food-borne pathogens. Use a food thermometer and consult a dependable chart for safe temperatures for different foods. Follow the same technique when reheating leftovers.

Obey the two-hour safety rule. Food starts to pose a risk if left out for more than two hours. Put leftovers away between courses to limit risk and make clean-up easier. Pitch anything that has been left out longer and remember that leftovers go downhill even faster. Also remember to account for transport time if you are bringing a dish to someone’s home.

Place leftovers in small containers and into the fridge as soon as possible. Then try to consume all remains within two or three days or freeze when appropriate. Harmful bacteria can grow rapidly when prepared foods sit without proper heating or cooling, as often happens during holiday parties.

Wash produce thoroughly. Outbreaks of listeria in cantaloupe and recalls of lettuce, spinach, and other vegetables remind us that germs may be lurking at farmers’ markets, backyard gardens, or shipping vehicles. Plus the risk for contamination is higher for fresh-cut produce than for whole items. Mold, of course, may indicate that the produce isn’t fresh, and cuts or bruises can allow bacteria to enter the items easily.

Be diligent with certain products. Appetizers, desserts, sour cream based dips, whipped cream, and cured hams must be carefully monitored for time out of the fridge. It’s best to serve these goods in small quantities. And refrigerate leftover homemade pumpkin pie, too.

Skip these cooking snafus:

Don’t stuff the turkey! “Something like 70% of sporadic cases of food-borne illnesses involve contaminated poultry,” Dr. D’Ovidio says. Salmonella and campylobacter pose risks for flu-like symptoms, severe bloody stools, appendicitis, autoimmune disease, and even death.

Don’t pour drippings from the turkey pan into your stuffing pan. A better choice is to add a can of chicken or turkey stock which has been pasteurized to eliminate risk.

Don’t rely on pop-up thermometers, as the probe is usually too short for an accurate reading.  Long meat thermometers are much more effective. The U. S. Department of Agriculture recommends a temperature of 165°F for poultry.

Keep heartburn off the menu:

Holidays are the time of year when we consume more acidic and fatty foods, which take longer to digest. Avoid the unpleasant sensation of heartburn by limiting carbonated beverages, citrus, and fruit juices. To limit acid production, avoid alcohol and cigarettes, mint products, chocolate, cranberry sauce, relish, tomato sauce, ketchup, pepper, mustard, and vinegar. Choose apple or pumpkin pie instead of high-fat pecan pie, and try not to lie down after eating or within two to three hours of bedtime.

Don’t let food allergies spoil holiday cheer:

Although special foods like roasted chestnuts and eggnog are an integral part of celebrating, the season can be troublesome for people with food allergies. Also, because homemade goodies do not come with a list of ingredients, the chance of accidental ingestion of an allergen increases significantly during the holidays. Common party foods often harbor hidden allergens, so whether you are an allergic guest or a concerned hostess, don’t hesitate to inquire about food preparation methods and used ingredients.

Follow these tips ─ using a good dose of common sense ─ and holiday dining occasions will be memorable for all the right reasons. For more information, visit FightBac.org.