Whether you’re having turkey at Thanksgiving or any other holiday meal, Assistant Director of Washington County Environmental Health Jason Taylor reminds area cooks to make sure your bird’s internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. But, before you put your turkey in the oven or fryer, Taylor says there’s one thing you don’t need to do, “When you do open your turkey, most people want to wash it because they think they need to get everything off the bird, but that’s actually going to aerosol any bacteria that was on that bird and throw it throughout your kitchen through water droplets and different things. I recommend you don’t wash the bird. Most of the time when they’re processed they’re triple-washed before you get them into your house.”  While you don’t have to wash your turkey prior to cooking it, when it comes time to eat, Taylor says good hand washing for you and your guests is very important, “You might want to have everyone wash their hands thoroughly before they go through the line to touch all the different dishes, or have everyone wash their hands and then the host actually serve up each individual serving to the people as they come through the line to eliminate any risk of cross-contamination with the hands.” Taylor says other options for safe holiday hosting of guests to consider include grouping members of the same together at meal time, asking them to wear face masks when they’re not eating, use disposable flatware and plates, and making lots of hand sanitizer readily available.