Christmas food safety

Use our food safety checklist to reduce the risk of food poisoning at Christmas

Cooked Christmas turkey on platter next to festive table decorations

To make sure you avoid the unwanted gift of food poisoning this Christmas, follow our food hygiene tips for each day over the festive period.

Christmas can be a magical time of year, but not if you end up with food poisoning! There’s always a lot going on at this time of year and it’s easy to forget the importance of storing and preparing food safely. But none of us want to give – or get – the unwanted gift of food poisoning.

We tend to buy more than usual at Christmas, which often means cramming our fridge full of festive food. But did you know that the temperature of your fridge can rise when it's full, and this can allow food poisoning bacteria to grow? Your fridge should be between 0-5°C – a good stocking filler idea could be a fridge thermometer to keep you right.

Did you know?

It could take around 3 days to safely defrost a 6kg turkey in a 4°C fridge. 

Christmas checklist

We’ve created a checklist ☑ to remind you of some easy and common food safety practices to help reduce the risks of food poisoning.

Top tip

Do not wash your turkey, chicken or any other kind of meat as this can spread harmful germs around the kitchen sink and surfaces which could make you or others ill.

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