Take time to prepare food with clean hands on clean surfaces and keep dishes at the proper temperatures to avoid food-borne illness during the holidays. Jason Taylor with Washington County Environmental Health shares you can leave food out for a maximum of four hours before it needs to be thrown away. Food is safe until 135 degrees and most pans will keep that heat for about half an hour. After that half hour mark Taylor advises putting leftovers in the refrigerator.

Leftover food should be placed on the top shelf in shallow metal pans without lids. Plastic can hold too much heat. The goal is to lower the heat down to 70 degrees within two hours, and then down to 41 degrees within the next four hours to prevent bacteria from growing. He also reminds everyone to wash your hands before preparing any food.