Halloween Food Safety

Trick-or-Treating Tips

Don't eat candy until it has been inspected at home. Inspect commercially wrapped treats for signs of tampering, such as an unusual appearance or discoloration, tiny pinholes, or tears in wrappers. Throw away anything that looks suspicious.
To help prevent kids from snacking while they're out trick-or-treating, give them a light meal or snack before they head out. Urge your children to wait until they get home and you have had a chance to inspect the contents of their bags.
Tell children not to accept – and especially not to eat – anything that isn't commercially wrapped.
Parents of very young children should remove any choking hazards such as gum, peanuts, hard candies, or small toys.
Be extra careful with kids who have allergies – ingredients aren't always clearly listed on individually wrapped candies.
Wash your hands before opening and eating those treats.

Bobbing for apples is a fun Halloween game. Wash the apples under running water. Instead of having a shared tub of apples, where germs can easily be passed in the water from one bobber to another, give each person their own large bowl of water and apples.
Unpasteurized juice or cider can contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. Always serve pasteurized products at your parties. Normally, the juice found in your grocer's frozen food case, refrigerated section, or on the shelf in boxes, bottles, or cans is pasteurized.
No matter how tempting, don't taste raw cookie dough or cake batter that contain uncooked eggs.
Keep all perishable foods chilled until serving time. These include finger sandwiches, cheese platters, fruit or tossed salads, cold pasta dishes with meat, poultry, or seafood, and cream pies or cakes with whipped-cream and cream-cheese frostings.
Bacteria will creep up on you if you let foods sit out too long. Don't leave perishable goodies out of the fridge for more than two hours.