Happy Thanksgiving: Serving Up Buffets - U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Plan a “bacteria-free buffet” with these easy tips for food safety when entertaining. Bon appétit!
Entertaining is one of the mainstays of the holiday season — and helps commemorate milestone events throughout the year, too. With proper preparation, you can be creative and tempt your party guests with an array of fun platters while still keeping food safety in mind!
Size Matters
If you’re planning a buffet at home and are not sure how quickly the food will be eaten, keep buffet serving portions small.
- Prepare a number of small platters and dishes ahead of time, and replace the serving dishes with the fresh ones throughout the party.
- Store cold back-up dishes in the refrigerator and keep hot dishes in the oven set at 200 °F to 250 °F prior to serving. This way, your late arriving guests can safely enjoy the same appetizing arrangements as the early arrivals.
Take Temperatures
Hot foods should be kept at an internal temperature of 140 °F or warmer.
- Use a food thermometer to check. Serve or keep food hot in chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays.
- Be aware that some warmers only hold food at 110 °F to 120 °F, so check the product label to make sure your warmer has the capability to hold foods at 140 °F or warmer. This is the temperature that’s required to keep bacteria at bay!
- Eggs and egg dishes, such as quiches or soufflés, may be refrigerated for serving later but should be thoroughly reheated to 165 °F before serving.
Chill Out
Serving bowls with fresh cut fruits in itCold foods should be kept at 40 °F or colder.
Keep cold foods refrigerated until serving time.
- If food is going to stay out on the buffet table longer than 2 hours, place plates of cold food on ice to retain the chill.
Keep It Fresh
Don’t add new food to an already filled serving dish.
- Instead, replace nearly empty serving dishes with freshly filled ones.
- Be aware that during the party, bacteria from people’s hands can contaminate the food. Plus, bacteria can multiply at room temperature.
Watch the Clock
Remember the 2-Hour Rule: Discard any perishables left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours, unless you’re keeping it hot or cold.
- If the buffet is held in a place where the temperature is above 90 °F, the safe holding time is reduced to 1 hour.
- Watch the clock with leftovers, too! Whether you’re sending “doggie bags” home with guests or are saving them for yourself, leftovers should be refrigerated as soon as guests arrive home and/or within 2 hours!
USITC: New Releases, New Documents and Announcements - U.S. International Trade Commission
- News Release -- Certain Gas Spring Nailer Products And Components Thereof [11/14/2017]
- News Release -- Certain Personal Computers, Mobile Devices, Digital Media Players, And Microconsoles [11/14/2017]
- News Release -- Certain Personal Computers, Mobile Devices, Digital Media Players, And Microconsoles [11/14/2017]
ITA: Press Release - International Trade Administration
11/14/2017 U.S. Department Of Commerce To Promote U.S. Military/Defense And Specialty Textiles At Milipol Paris 2017
11/13/2017 Final Determinations in the Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Investigations of imports of Hardwood Plywood Products from the People's Republic of China
11/13/2017 Preliminary Determinations in the Antidumping Duty (AD) Investigations of imports of Tool Chests and Cabinets from the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Following Second House Fire, CPSC Warns Consumers to Stop Using LayZ Board Hoverboards - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After a second house fire resulting in substantial property damage, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging consumers to stop using LayZ Board self-balancing scooters (known as hoverboards) immediately. CPSC has evidence that LayZ Board was the brand of hoverboard involved in the fire on October 23, 2017, in Manchester Township, Pennsylvania, which destroyed one townhome and damaged four others.
In May 2017, CPSC issued its first warning about LayZ Board hoverboards, following a fatal house fire on March 10, 2017, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which took the lives of two young girls.
These hoverboards were manufactured in Shenzhen, China, and more than 3,000 units were imported into the United States.
Due to the fire hazard posed to consumers of all ages by these hoverboards, CPSC is urging the public to stop charging and stop using their LayZ Board. Consumers who choose to dispose of their hoverboards should take them to a local recycling center for safe handling of the lithium-ion battery. CPSC is also asking the public to share this warning with friends and family so that no one else is injured by these hoverboards.
The LayZ Board is a two-wheeled, battery-powered, self-balancing scooter that has a pivoting platform intended for the rider’s feet and does not have a handlebar. The name LayZ Board is printed on the front of the product.
Consumers should report any incidents with products to CPSC at: www.saferproducts.gov.
Note: The safety warning to stop use applies to LayZ Board hoverboards, which is a different product from Lazyboard hoverboards.
U.S. Department of Transportation Publishes Drug Testing Rule to Enhance Safety While Combating the Opioid Epidemic - Department of Transportation
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today issued a final rule that expands the Department’s current drug testing panel to include certain semi-synthetic opioids (i.e., hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone) to its drug testing panel for DOT-regulated industries. This is a direct effort to enhance safety, prevent opioid abuse and combat the nation’s growing opioid epidemic. The DOT currently requires drug testing of safety-sensitive employees in the transportation industries.
“The opioid crisis is a threat to public safety when it involves safety-sensitive employees involved in the operation of any kind of vehicle or transport,” said Secretary Elaine L. Chao. “The ability to test for a broader range of opioids will advance transportation safety significantly and provide another deterrence to opioid abuse, which will better protect the public and ultimately save lives.”
As required by the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991, the DOT is harmonizing with the Department of Health and Human Services’ revised Mandatory Guidelines for Federal drug testing programs. The DOT Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 82 FR 7771 was announced on January 23, 2017, the same day as HHS announced its revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines, 82 FR 7920.
Consequently, DOT-regulated employers will be required to test for these highly abused opioids beginning on January 1, 2018.
Find more information on the final rulemaking https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-11-13/pdf/2017-24397.pdf
Wild Facts About That Thanksgiving Bird - Fish & Wildlife Service
Maybe you’re already dreaming about Thanksgiving: turkey, stuffing, all the pies. And maybe you thought you knew everything about turkeys. Think again.
Wild turkeys are not hard to find – if you look in the right place. National wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are great places to view wild turkeys or find the perfect hunt. Refuge trails generally are open sunrise to sunset, many even on Thanksgiving Day when refuge visitor centers will be closed. Free trail maps are often available outside a visitor center or at a refuge entrance kiosk. Find your trail online.
Here are some more facts that could add to the lively talk around your holiday table.
- Thought the only turkey sound is gobble, gobble? In fact, turkeys make all kinds of sounds: fly-down or fly-up cackle; kee kee run; excited yelp and more. Hear them all, thanks to the National Wild Turkey Federation.
- Turkey droppings tell a bird’s gender and age. Male droppings are j-shaped; female droppings are spiral-shaped. The larger the diameter, the older the bird.
- An adult turkey has 5,000 to 6,000 feathers – count them! – on its body.
- Turkeys may look off-kilter – tilting their heads and staring at the sky – yet they’re fast. In a poultry race, they can clock more than 12 miles per hour, beating chickens by three miles per hour. The eastern cottontail leaves them both in the dust as it zig zags away from danger at 18 miles per hour.
- Tom turkeys aren’t the only ones that swagger and fan their tail feathers to woo mates and ward off rivals. Some hens strut, too.
- Young turkeys – poults – scarf down insects like candy. They develop more of a taste for plants after they’re four weeks old.
- Move over, American bald eagle. Ben Franklin called the wild turkey a “bird of courage” and thought it would make a better national symbol.
When you are ready to head outdoors, use our online National Wildlife Refuge System hunting guide to find the ultimate turkey hunt. Be sure to check federal and state regulations for licenses, seasons and special permitting. You can also brush up your photography skills or just enjoy a variety of scenic trails.
Airline Bumping Continues to Decline and Mishandled Baggage Rate Lowest in Decades - Department of Transportation
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today released its November 2017 Air Travel Consumer Report on air carrier data compiled for the month of September 2017, third quarter of 2017, and first nine months of 2017. For the third quarter of 2017, the 12 U.S. carriers who report involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, data posted a bumping rate of 0.15 per 10,000 passengers, the lowest quarterly rate based on historical data dating back to 1995 and down from both the rate of 0.69 for the third quarter of 2016 and the previous lowest quarterly rate of 0.44 posted in the second quarter of 2017.
DOT has launched its redesigned airline consumer website to make it easy for travelers to understand their rights. The full consumer report and other aviation consumer matters of interest to the public can be found at http://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer.
For the first nine months of this year, the carriers posted a bumping rate of 0.39 per 10,000 passengers, the lowest January through September rate based on historical data dating back to 1995 and down from the rate of 0.65 posted during the first nine months of 2016. The previous lowest rate for the January through September period was 0.64 in 2002.
Oversales data, unlike other air carrier data, are reported quarterly rather than monthly. See the November Air Travel Consumer Report for denied boarding numbers by airline.
The U.S. carriers reporting mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 1.99 reports per 1,000 passengers in September, an improvement over both September 2016’s rate of 2.23 and August 2017’s rate of 2.45 and the lowest monthly rate since DOT started collecting mishandled baggage report data in September 1987. The previous low was 2.02 in November 2016. For the first nine months of this year, the carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 2.50 reports per 1,000 passengers, an improvement over the 2.75 rate recorded during the first nine months of 2016.
The consumer report also includes data on on-time performance, cancellations, tarmac delays, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays filed with the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers. In addition, the consumer report contains a record of aviation service complaints filed with DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division by consumers regarding a range of issues including flight problems, baggage, reservation and ticketing, refunds, customer service, disability access, and discrimination. The report also includes information about the total number of animals that died, were injured, or were lost during air transport in September 2017, as filed by the air carriers with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division.
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