00:00Preparing a Christmas feast for the family is no small undertaking and it can also be fraught with danger.
00:09Knowing what to prepare, how to cook it, how to deal with leftovers and even what to let our furry friends have a go at under the table isn't always straightforward.
00:18Well Gary Kennedy is a food technologist and he joins us now in the studio to help us navigate it all.
00:24Gary thank you so much for your time.
00:25No problem.
00:26Let's start where many of our viewers might find themselves on this very day with a shopping list in one hand and the guest list in the other.
00:34What questions should they be asking themselves and others when deciding what to make.
00:39Well the first thing they should be asking is anyone got a food allergy.
00:43The and some other things people may not have thought about for example is someone sober.
00:50So we don't put wine in the trifle for example.
00:55Are there any religious concerns.
00:57Is anyone vegan or vegetarian.
00:59But I suppose most importantly from a food safety perspective is anyone pregnant.
01:06Because there's a particular food poisoning bug which does crop up at Christmas occasionally.
01:11A bug called Listeria monosotogenes.
01:13And pregnant women really should not be eating things like salads and smoked salmon and ham.
01:20Because there's a bug that could grow on them that could have problems with the unborn baby.
01:24Okay so quite a few things to get through before the cooking even starts.
01:29Hopefully you know a lot of that but they're often in-laws or plus ones coming to a Christmas party.
01:33And some people might be recently sober or recently vegan.
01:36Yes.
01:37For people who are doing Christmas the traditional way and serving up a Christmas turkey for instance.
01:43I know there are a few different ways to defrost a turkey.
01:46How should someone go about that?
01:48Definitely do not defrost it by running it in the sink underwater.
01:53Which is an internet thing at the moment.
01:56Definitely do not that.
01:57Because when the water hits it all they do is spray the water around your kitchen.
02:01So you're spraying all of the possible food poisoning bugs from the turkey or chicken.
02:06All around your kitchen cross contaminating everything.
02:09You're better off to let it thaw in the fridge.
02:12Or buy it pre-chilled.
02:14You can buy chilled versions of those these days.
02:17And often the fridge gets pretty full when you're looking to sort of clear space.
02:22Are there things you should be prioritizing and things that really need to stay cold?
02:25Yeah.
02:26The things that you know the beer you know doesn't really need to stay cold.
02:31That's the most important thing Gary.
02:33It can go into an esky with some ice.
02:35You know things like soft drinks.
02:37And if you're really stuck for space things that are in cans can come out.
02:41The butter and margarine can come out.
02:44If it's only for the day tomato sauce and barbecue sauce.
02:47A lot bread.
02:48A lot of the stuff we keep in the fridge just because it's a convenient spot to store stuff.
02:52Can come out to make room for the stuff that really does need to be kept cold.
02:56And what about when your cousin's cute little greyhound comes up to you under the table and wants a nibble.
03:01Are there things we should be avoiding giving dogs and pets?
03:04Well the first thing is chocolate.
03:06A disaster for dogs.
03:08So any form of chocolate including things like chocolate cookies or you know things like that are a problem.
03:15But dogs also aren't good with the allium.
03:18So onion and garlic are not good for them.
03:21And definitely the other thing with dogs and cats is don't give them the leftovers from yesterday that sat out all day.
03:28So if you did have leftovers sit out all day and think oh that's no good for me.
03:33I'll give it to the dog.
03:34That's probably not a good.
03:35Dogs can get food poisoning even though you wouldn't think so.
03:38You know my dog will eat squash black stuff on the road.
03:41But dogs can get food poisoning with food that sat outside in warm temperatures too long.
03:47Okay so that's a good rule of thumb.
03:49If it's not good for humans it's not good for the dogs.
03:51No it's not either.
03:52We have to leave it there Gary Kennedy.
03:54Thank you so much for your time.
03:56Really interesting and I'm sure very useful information for lots of our viewers today.
