After the Thanksgiving Day, after several consecutive days of enjoying the fun of eating and drinking, food safety experts warned that if leftovers are not properly handled, it may bring significant risks to health. Lester Schonberger, a food science and technology expert at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, said leftover food is an inevitable result of a Thanksgiving meal, but once the meal is over, they need to be stored safely.

Enberg said that hot food should be eaten, stored or heated within four hours of leaving the oven; cold food should be eaten or refrigerated for six hours, but cold foods that are temperatures of 70 degrees Celsius (about 21 degrees Celsius) or higher during this period should be abandoned after a meal.

Leftovers can usually be stored in the refrigerator for three or four days, that is, on Monday after the Thanksgiving Day; and in a cold storage for two to six months.

But this is not as simple as putting the pill in the refrigerator and closing it to the door. First, when storing food, sealed thick aluminium foil bags, fresh films, cold paper or plastic squeezing bags should be used to seal the food.

Enberg suggests that leftovers be divided into smaller containers, and cool the hot food to below 41 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Celsius), and then put it in the refrigerator or cold storage. Bacteria grows the fastest between 40 degrees Celsius and 140 degrees Celsius (about 4 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius), and this range is called the "dangerous area".

Chich chickens and other poultry are one of the most susceptible to food poisoning, because they are not cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Celsius (about 73 degrees Celsius) to kill any harmful bacteria.

Cooked poultry and slurry cooked foods can be stored in the cold pot for four months, while cooked bacon, ham, meat, macaroni and cheese usually have a shorter shelf life in the cold pot. The time of the cooked fish in the cold storage depends on the type and storage method of the fish.

Enberg said that the longer food is stored in the cold storage, the taste will change due to the evaporation of moisture. Federal food safety experts suggest that reheating leftovers must reach at least 165 degrees of Hua's.

Add a lid before putting the food into the microwave to make the food evenly heat up; use the food temperature meter to check multiple locations to ensure that the food is completely hot and thorough. The sauce, soup and gravy should be heated on the stove until boiling.

Responsible editor: Gu Zihuan