Despite a lingering misconception, poultry is no more susceptible to bacterial contamination than red meat, pork or even fish. Other than cooking temperature, poultry requires no more attention when it comes to roasting, baking, frying or barbecuing.

"We in the industry recommend that boneless chicken be cooked at no less than 165°F and chicken on the bone at 185°F," says Jim Starnes, divisional sales manager for sales development at Tyson Food Service. "Most professional cooks already know that, but the importance of thermometers still needs to be emphasized for the new, smaller operations. And they cost only $4 to $5, so price shouldn't be an issue."

"To test whether chicken has been prepared properly, cooks should pierce the meat at its thickest point to make sure the juice is running clear," Starnes explains.

"This tells you the meat has been cooked at the proper temperature. It's as simple as that," Starnes says. "However, the procedures you use to prepare chicken, or any other meat, are not quite so simple. Many cooks still fail to adhere to the simplest of rules."

These rules include a formal approach to sanitization and proper food rotation.With poultry, proper rotation is critical to bacteria control.

"Kitchen workers can no longer judge the freshness of food by the way it looks or by some notes scrawled on a piece of masking tape. Proper rotation requires the use of modern tools such as day-of-the-week rotation labels," Starnes says. "Informal rotation programs normally lead to higher costs because of the increase in waste."

All formal safety programs will fail if food handlers do not constantly wash their hands, change aprons and limit how long they use the same knife or other utensils.