GWYNEDD Council has been offering residents tips and tricks to avoid a festive bout of food poisoning.

The authority is supporting the Food Standards Agency’s Christmas campaign to raise awareness about food hygiene during the Christmas period.

To avoid having a nasty bout of food poisoning over the holidays, the council is urging residents to follow these FSA tips to keep your festive season truly the most wonderful time of the year:

• When Christmas food shopping, take sufficient bags with you so that you can separate out raw and ready-to-eat foods to avoid cross-contamination.

• Check the guidance on your turkey to ensure you have enough time to fully defrost it – it could take as much as four days.

• Don’t wash raw turkey; it just splashes germs onto your hands, clothes, utensils and worktops.

• To work out the cooking time for your bird, check the instructions on the packaging. Check that: the meat is steaming hot throughout; there is no pink meat visible when you cut into the thickest part and meat juices run clear.

• Whether you cooked your turkey from frozen or fresh, your turkey leftovers can be used to make a new meal – such as a turkey curry. This new meal can then be frozen, but make sure you only reheat it once.

Cllr Dafydd Meurig, Gwynedd Council Cabinet member for the environment, said: “Cooking a Christmas roast for a large gathering can be a challenge, and it is vital that the turkey, or any other meat, is stored, defrosted and cooked correctly.”