DAILY BRIEFING
USDA Offers Turkey Help
United States Department of Agriculture employee Bessie Berry has one thing on her mind this Thanksgiving: customer service.
Berry is in charge of the USDA meat and poultry hot-line that fields questions from callers wondering how to safely prepare a turkey.
The holiday season is the busiest for the year-round hot line, which provides information to avert food poisoning from improper handling and cooking.
Near Thanksgiving Berry and 13 staffers with training in food safety answer more than 500 calls a day to the toll-free number.
"In many cases, I think we are successful in preventing food-borne illness," Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said. "Most of the things we tell them are actually very simple, but they are important and sometimes forgotten."
The meat and poultry hotline is 1-800-535-4555. It is staffed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST on Thanksgiving Day.
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