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There's a turkey in the oven, cranberries on the counter and enough potatoes to feed a small army boiling on the stove. Add in guests popping into the kitchen for a snack and nieces and nephews underfoot and Thanksgiving can get pretty chaotic.

 

That makes it all the more important to stay clean and organized as you're preparing your Turkey Day meal, University of North Carolina food safety expert Ben Chapman says in a new video. Having a system — such as a rule that plastic cutting boards are for meat and wooden ones are for veggies and fruits — can help.

 

"You want to make sure that you keep everything separate," Chapman said. "Any contamination that might go onto one cutting board is contained."

 

After you've thawed your turkey and unwrapped it, your next steps should be to clean and sanitize the utensils, cutting boards or platters that have touched raw meat, Chapman said. These are two different steps. Washing using dish soap will get rid of debris and juices. Sanitizing with a spray bottle of one tablespoon of bleach diluted in water will kill nasty microbes.

 

One thing you shouldn't wash, Chapman said: Your turkey. People often rinse their bird under the sink, but that does nothing to get rid of pathogens and can actually spread them. [Video – Thanksgiving Food Safety]

 

"The velocity of that water can spray those pathogens up to a yard away from your sink," Chapman said.

 

Cooking thoroughly will kill any bugs on the outside of your bird, Chapman said. If there are feathers or other grime on the turkey, patting it down with a paper towel is the safest bet.

 

Pre-washed bagged lettuce is another food that can skip the rinse, Chapman said: "You can't do anything more in your kitchen here to reduce risk."

 

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This story was originally written for LiveScience and is republished with permission here. Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company.