The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit is reminding everyone to check cooking instructions, especially when it comes to chicken products.
Joan Mays, Manager of Community Health Protection with the Health Unit, says the province asked them to put out some educational material about cooking processed chicken products. She notes that members of the public may assume that these products have already been cooked and just need to be warmed or thawed.
Mays says some of these products do come pre-cooked but the easiest way to know for sure is by reading the box. She warns that since not all appliances have the same cooking time you should still check the internal temperature of meat. Mays says the recommended internal temperature for chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit and meat thermometers are usually available in grocery stores.
According to the Health Unit you can also reduce your risk of food poisoning by leaving cooked meat at room temperature for long and treating uncooked, processed chicken as raw meat. A full list of tips can be found here. { }