ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 19, 1996 TAG: 9611190078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Back in August, the Agriculture Department tried to knock the stuffing out of Thanksgiving turkeys, warning Americans that improperly cooking the dressing inside the bird could cause serious illness or even death.
But with Thanksgiving Day drawing near and the turkey industry up in arms, the agency has pulled back. Now it's telling cooks: Go ahead and stuff. Just make sure everything's very well-cooked.
In its latest advisory, the agency recommends sticking a meat thermometer into stuffing to make sure it reaches 165 degrees, enough to kill bacteria from either the turkey or any eggs used in the stuffing.
That's a much weaker warning than in August, when the department's Food and Safety Inspection Service warned in bold letters in fliers that it ``strongly advises against stuffing the turkey.''
Citing new research and other data, it said at the time, ``Improperly cooked stuffing can cause serious illness or even death.''
The turkey-and-dressing folk didn't care for that - though the University of Georgia study that formed the basis for the warning was paid for by their own National Turkey Federation. The Georgia research had recommended that stuffing be cooked outside the bird.
Georgia researcher John Carpenter says the initial advisory exaggerated his findings. And that was the message the industry carried when it met with officials who run the department's Meat and Poultry Hotline, which put out the flier.
So on Oct. 31, the department put out a new flier that offered ``advice on stuffing a turkey safely.'' It says ``cooking a home-stuffed turkey can be somewhat riskier than cooking one not stuffed.''
No mention of serious illness or death. And not until about eight paragraphs down comes the advice, ``If you are not prepared to use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the stuffing in the bird, then the stuffing should be cooked outside the turkey.''
The department denies it was forced to eat crow. The safe-cooking message remains the same, and it's true that undercooked stuffing can cause illness or death, said Susan Conley, the official in charge of the turkey bulletins.
``It's more that the first one was, I guess, misunderstood, and perhaps it had to do with an unfortunate tone,'' she said.
The solution is fine for the Turkey Federation, a trade group of turkey farmers and processors whose members sell 45 million holiday turkeys.
``Obviously, they realized that the public was going to go crazy with not being able to stuff their turkeys and kind of came to an agreement that in fact you can stuff it as long as you do it safely,'' said Erin O'Brien, a federation spokesperson.
Neither message seemed to be swaying holiday plans much - even at the agency's own cafeteria.
``I'm still going to stuff my turkey,'' said Randy Weber, an associate administrator of the department's Farm Service Agency, who was unaware of the changed message.
Anne Jenkins won't, but it has little to do with the warnings. Jenkins, an Agriculture Department employee, plans a seafood dinner with ham and a small turkey breast on the side. ``I like a 20-pound dressing and 5-pound turkey breast,'' she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB