By Tracy Orillo-Donovan

Here comes the holiday season, which brings both joy and concern to food safety experts like Dr. Aurora Saulo of UH Mānoa.  With Thanksgiving later this week, and Christmas and New Year’s celebrations not far behind, folks are busily planning potluck dishes to celebrate the season. 

Thankfully, Dr. Saulo has been sharing her knowledge of food and food safety for the past 30 years—not only in Hawai‘i, but around the world.  She is currently in the Philippines, her native homeland, where she is teaching a food processing certificate course.  Her background and experiences are fascinating.  She came to the U.S. to study chemical physics at the University of Massachusetts on a Fulbright fellowship; started her food-industry career in 1978 as a flavor chemist for United Brands, studying an all-natural banana essence; and was employed at Wesson Foods in Fullerton, Calif., as a product developer, working on dried and canned versions of an all-natural Sloppy Joe mix.

Dr. Aurora Saulo

Now at UH Mānoa, she travels the world to educate people on how to avoid food-borne illnesses such as salmonellosis, caused by the bacterium, salmonella.  Warning: Those most vulnerable to food-borne illnesses are the very young, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems. 

Dr. Saulo’s tips for a healthy, happy holiday celebration:

1)      Follow strict personal hygiene practices. This means thorough hand-washing before and after handling food.

2)      Cook by temperature. On a thermometer, food should be registered at 165°F for poultry, 155° F for beef patties (no pink center), 145°F for pork, and 140°F for roast beef.

3)      Pay close attention to the time holiday dishes are left out, especially at buffets. Especially keep a close eye on cold dishes like macaroni salad, cream pies and eggnog. Temperatures for cold foods should be below 41°F; hot foods should be above 140°F.

4)      Transport your food cold and reheat it to above 165° F at the party site. Precooked foods should be eaten within two hours of cooking.

5)      Refrigerate leftovers immediately in small, shallow containers.

Contact Dr. Saulo at aurora@hawaii.edu.  Now, let’s eat!

Tracy Orillo-Donovan, B.A. 1985 and MEd 1996, is broadcast manager for UH Manoa.  See http://manoa.hawaii.edu/.

Tags: Aurora Saulo, food safety, holiday food tips, salmonella

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.