Two keys to preparing a safe Thanksgiving dinner is to wash all countertops and utensils and to pay attention to food temperatures.

Whether you’re hosting your first Thanksgiving or you’re a Turkey Day pro, your No. 1 goal this year should be to serve up a warm, delicious and safe meal. Because food safety is only one of the thoughts you are juggling as you clean the house and prepare for hungry guests, use this safety checklist to keep your food preparations on track and stomach-friendly.

Pre-cooking Preparation

• Disinfect counters and cutting boards. Start out Thanksgiving Day with a bacteria-free kitchen. Use a solution of 1 tablespoon unscented chlorine bleach per gallon of water and get scrubbing. 
• Buy a food thermometer. This will be your best friend in food safety this week.
• Always wash your hands. Keeping your hands clean throughout your Thanksgiving preparations will help stop the spread of bacteria. Wash with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds.

The Turkey

• Defrost frozen turkeys early. As a general rule, allow a thaw time of one day per every 5 pounds of turkey. If you missed the date, thaw your turkey in a sink of warm water, changing the water every 30 minutes. Allow a half hour thaw time for every pound.
• Avoid the counter. Never defrost a turkey on the counter. Instead, place it on a drip pan so that you can easily clean the mess.
• Cook the turkey right. Bake at a minimum of 325 degrees F to kill all bacteria. Do not bake all night on a lower temperature. To make sure the turkey is cooked through, use a food thermometer to test the innermost part of the thigh, wing and breast. The temperature should read no lower than 165 degrees F.

The Stuffing

• Cook the stuffing immediately.  Mix the wet and dry ingredients for the stuffing on Thanksgiving Day, right before cooking, to ensure you don’t grow any unwanted bacteria.
• Keep the stuffing moist. Heat does a better job of killing bacteria in a moist environment.
• Check stuffing’s temperature. The temperature of stuffing cooked inside the turkey should be at least 165 degrees F.
• Throw out fresh, pre-stuffed turkeys. The USDA says the stuffing in these turkeys is highly perishable and breeding grounds for bacteria. Throw these turkeys away or try to get your money back.

Thanksgiving Side Dishes

• Think ahead. Go ahead and make your breads and vegetable side dishes (like a yummy green bean casserole). Just be sure to keep them refrigerated at or below 40 degrees F.
• Separate, separate, separate. Keep your fruits and vegetables away from your meat and poultry to avoid cross-contamination.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

• Keep them cool. Immediately refrigerate all leftovers at a temperature below 40 degrees F to stop the spread of bacteria. Any dishes left out longer than two hours should be thrown out.
• Freeze for the future. Leftover turkey keeps in the freezer for three to four months.
• Reheat safely. When reheating leftovers, cook to at least 165 degrees F.

For more information on how to host the perfect Thanksgiving, consult this list of tips and recipes.

This Thanksgiving safety list was compiled with information provided by the USDA and the Partnership for Food Safety Education. 

Heavy rains in September and October 2009 challenged small farmers across the country planning their autumn harvests. According to the National Climatic Data Center, it was the wettest October in 115 years, with precipitation nearly twice the national long-term average. Now, small farmers have finally harvested a portion of their crops and assessed their losses.

Redeeming the South
The more than 10 inches of rain that covered South and Central Texas this fall greatly improved the damages caused by five years of drought, according to a report from the National Weather Service, but farmers still found themselves battling cool, wet conditions.

In Central Texas, Andy Don Emmons and his fiancé Sandy Bates Bell were in the middle of their second hay cutting when the rains hit. Emmons’ family-owned farm received more than 12 inches since August, Bell said, causing them to lose an estimated 80 of 500 hay bales.

The couple wanted to test crops in an heirloom garden this year in an effort to be self-sustainable. Their Sept. 4 plant date got pushed back to Oct. 20, as heavy rains kept them from tilling their soil and planting their crops.

Now, the mud has dried, and daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s have facilitated sprouting, leading Bell to hold on to an optimistic outlook.

“The soil is dry and cracking and much sandier than I would have liked, but we are crossing our fingers that 50 percent will have some yields,” she said.

For small farmer Christy Weick in Mt. Hermon, La., a record amount rain of caused significantly less problems on her farm than the 2008 drought.

“There is enough moisture in the ground for our 2009 winter crops,” she said, adding that the crops include ryegrass and crimson clover. “In 2008, we just gave up and what grew just grew without a second thought about it.”

Compensating for Loss
In other parts of the country, where heavy rains were more of a challenge than a saving grace, small farmers had to stay flexible.

Linda Koetitz plants tomatoes, potatoes and other vegetables on her small farm in northern Utah each year to feed her family throughout the winter. This year, her crop grew one to two months late, forcing her to travel to farmers’ markets for vegetables instead of her backyard garden. Once the crop blossomed, it all came at once and she had to work hard to take advantage of the harvest.

“I had to can tomatoes like crazy since I only had a small window when they were ripe before the early hard freezes came,” she said.

In Maine, Karen Paro’s crop harvest was less than in previous years, but she still managed to harvest and freeze some for use throughout the winter. She picked six pints of peppers, 20 quarts of green beans and an assortment of squash and zucchini; however, other crop did not make it to harvest.

“The tomatoes grew but rotted before they ripened; the watermelon and cucumber plants got stem rot and never finished growing; and the lettuce went to seed almost immediately,” Paro said. 

Lessons Learned
Josh Gillming’s 7.5-acre farm in Kimball, Neb., saw three weeks of rainy weather with an average of 4 inches of precipitation a week. The months of August to October were the coolest on record for Nebraska, according to the NCDC.

“Because of the cool temperatures and lack of sun, most of our tomatoes didn’t turn red on the vine,” said Gillming, who gave gardening a go for the first time this year. “We brought our tomatoes inside. We had 30 tomato plants and probably close to 100 pounds of green tomatoes, but they did turn.”

This year, Doug Gifford, a hobby farmer in northeastern Missouri, experimented with small amounts of alfalfa and wheat to feed to his farm’s livestock. However, the alfalfa’s aversion to moist soil hindered its growth and he worries the cool, damp weather will make a weak wheat harvest. 

“Because the crop was not established in the fall like I had hoped, I will have to either delay buying more animals or buy hay from someone else,” Gifford said. “That hurts my plans for raising almost all my animal feed on my own property.

Courtesy Borlaug Institute/ Matt Stellbauer Yousif Khalid Khdir, along with 12 other Iraqi agriculture personnel, visited the Poultry Center at Texas A&M University as part of a six-week agricultural training program.

As part of the USDA-funded Iraq Agricultural Extension Revitalization project, Texas A&M University brought Iraqi agriculture personnel to Texas to introduce them to new agriculture technologies and methods that they can apply in their country.

The 13 Iraqis—10 from Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture, two from the University of Baghdad and one from the University of Babil—received six weeks of agricultural instruction in October and November at Texas AgriLife facilities throughout the Lone Star State.

The revitalization project, which began in 2007, is implemented through a consortium of U.S. land-grant universities spearheaded by Texas A&M in cooperation with Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture and Iraqi agricultural institutions. It is administered through the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, located on the Texas A&M campus in College Station.

“The project is in its second phase, and now we’re focusing on bringing small groups of Iraqis involved in agriculture to the U.S. to acquire new knowledge, skills and methods they can take back and share with others in their country,” said Kate Whitney from the Borlaug Institute, who coordinated the training. “As part of our agreement, they have committed to share what they learn with others when they return to Iraq, so it’s basically a train-the-trainer program.”

The first week of training focused on extension methods and the 4-H youth development program.

“We wanted them to know about this program because so many Iraqi youth are involved in agriculture and because it will help them build their future,” Whitney said. “4-H programs in the U.S. help us develop future leaders, and a program like this can do the same in Iraq.”

The following weeks involved training in dairy, beef cattle and small ruminants as well as aquaculture and poultry. The group toured dairy operations in Central Texas, small ruminant operations in the San Angelo area and fish farms in Houston. At Texas A&M, they participated in hands-on activities at the university’s poultry lab. The group worked with university faculty and staff to develop curriculum, course materials and training strategies they can employ on their return to Iraq.

“We’re spending more time on training and education about small ruminants, especially sheep and goats, as these are very important to the Iraqis,” Whitney said. She added that even though dairy and beef cattle operations are less prevalent in Iraq, she thought the training and tours relating to these agricultural sectors would be useful because they are working to develop those industries.

Sajeda Eidan, a researcher and lecturer at the College of Agriculture at the University of Baghdad, was primarily interested in sheep, goat and cattle reproduction.

“I want to improve my skills and learn more about how new technology can help me in my work,” said Eidan, who has her doctorate in reproductive physiology. “I’m especially interested in how to use ultrasound to determine pregnancy in sheep and goats and in learning more about embryo transfer.”

Eidan added that she was hoping to learn how to genetically improve sheep and enhance the quality of their wool.
This year, the project will bring a total of 61 Iraqis from the agriculture ministry and agriculture universities to the U.S. to receive training.

“This type of project is key to providing food security, improving rural livelihoods, providing sustainable resource management and increasing economic development in Iraq,” said Ed Price, director of the Borlaug Institute. “Efforts like these will help stabilize the country and provide greater overall security for the Iraqi people.”

According to Price, the USDA initiated the project to provide agricultural extension training and support as well as expand agriculture-university development and promote private-sector involvement in Iraqi agriculture.

“The goal is to help achieve sustainable economic improvement for farmers and others living in rural communities throughout Iraq,” he said.