Ellen Shumaker, a food safety expert at North Carolina State University, explains your refrigerator is one of the most important tools in avoiding the unwanted party guest: harmful bacteria.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, and gathering to share a meal is often the highlight. But foodborne illnesses can ruin even the best feasts.

As a food safety attorney who handles cases of E. coli, salmonella, and campylobacter outbreaks, Bill Marler thinks about food, a lot, especially around foodie holidays like Thanksgiving. "Do not, under any circumstance,

Keeping a sanitary work area and following food safety guidelines will help protect you and your food before, during, and after Thanksgiving. Sanitarian and health inspector for NET Health Jonathan Barena said he would never recommend thawing the bird at room temperature on the counter.

A lot of energy goes into preparing a Thanksgiving meal. Recently though, several widely used food items have been recalled over illness outbreaks and potential contamination, from organic carrots, to milk,