ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608190090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOTE: Below
THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT warns cooks that undercooked stuffing can lead to food poisoning.
It's a grand old American tradition that carries with it the promise of gastronomical delight.
But be careful: The Agriculture Department last week warned Americans not to stuff their Thanksgiving turkeys.
``Improperly cooked stuffing can cause serious illness or even death,'' Bessie Berry, the acting director of the agency's meat and poultry hot line, warned.
The government agency says it's not trying to frighten people or ruin tradition - but merely wants to strongly emphasize the risks of mishandling turkey.
Realizing, however, that some Americans may never give up the bread crumb-, sage-and turkey drippings-inspired delicacy, the agency also issued guidelines for what it calls ``the nonbelievers and traditionalists who still insist on stuffing the turkey.''
Briefly, they are:
* Cook the turkey in a preheated, 325 degree oven until the meat in the inner thigh reaches 180 degrees - and until the center of the stuffing reaches 165 degrees.
* And always, always check the temperature with that tricky kitchen tool, the meat thermometer.
``From a chef's point of view, that's ridiculous,'' said Peter Zimmer, executive chef at Baltimore's Joy America Cafe, when he heard of the advisory.
Zimmer, who did five years of Thanksgiving feasts as a hotel chef, said no one got sick after he served stuffed turkey cooked his favorite way: medium-rare to medium, very moist and full of flavor.
But the Agriculture Department stands by its recommendation. In the past, the agency has repeatedly warned of turkey-undercooking dangers. But this is the first time it's issued a flat "Don't stuff!" warning.
The recommendation is based on a study by the University of Georgia on 126 turkeys - half of them stuffed - to determine proper cooking times and techniques.
Modern-day turkeys simply take less time to cook than the turkeys of a few years ago - mostly because of new breeding techniques, the study found.
Thus, the stuffing inside the bird was not reaching the recommended temperature of 165 degrees needed to kill bacteria.
``It's like the baked Alaska syndrome, where you have the outside burned, but there's ice cream on the inside,'' said Daniel Maxson of the Clark County health department in Las Vegas and a supporter of the USDA recommendations.
One thing that makes stuffing risky is that, in most cases, the cook cannot tell it's undercooked just by looking at it or eating it, Maxson said.
He cited the case of a 63-year-old Las Vegas woman who died last year from salmonellosis, five days after a Thanksgiving dinner of stuffed turkey. Six other people who ate the same meal became sick, including two who were hospitalized.
Although there were no dinner leftovers to test, Maxson's department suspects the stuffing - which would be the last thing to fully cook and contained three raw eggs - was the cause. But Maxson does not rule out that undercooked turkey may have been the culprit.
``The key thing in all of this was that no thermometer was used to determine doneness,'' Maxson said. ``Doneness was determined by appearance.''
Stuffing can be harmless if a cook follows certain guidelines, said Romeo Toledo, a University of Georgia food sciences professor and the study's author.
In addition to using a thermometer to test temperature, the cook should prepare the stuffing just before it goes into the bird. And the turkey should be loosely stuffed - about 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound.
If the stuffing is left at room temperature too long, toxin-producing organisms, like Staphylococcus bacteria that are found everywhere on the human body, can multiply.
If the stuffing does not heat to 165 degrees, then bacteria may still live, and could produce a toxin that makes people ill for a long time.
``You have diarrhea and vomiting at the same time. ... If you ever had it, you will never forget it,'' Toledo said.
While most people recover from such a sickness, the bacteria can kill weak people, children or the elderly.
The Agriculture Department said it issued the stuffing warning now - in the last hot days of summer - so food magazines and other publications could receive it in time for special Thanksgiving editions.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB