Do not wash your turkey and other Thanksgiving tips to keep your food safe

Ready or not, the holidays are here. It's a time when many Americans accustomed to preparing simple meals find themselves responsible for safely serving multi-dish feasts.

It's no easy task. Outbreaks of some types of food poisoning tend to rise in November and December, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tainted turkey, undercooked stuffing and germ-laced gravy from holiday buffets have all led to past illnesses — and even deaths — CDC investigators have found.

It can be tricky for occasional cooks to prepare big meals in a way that avoids the common hazards that can make people sick, said Donald Schaffner, a food science expert at Rutgers University.

“Cooking takes longer with big masses of food. Cooling takes longer with big masses of food,” said Schaffner, who co-hosts the food-safety podcast “Risky or Not?”