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Those Thanksgiving leftovers will look luscious in the days to come, but looks could be painfully deceiving if the food isn't handled right.

"We're issuing a 'leftover alert' to remind holiday chefs that food safety doesn't stop once the meal is prepared," said Andrea Gamble, food-protection supervisor for the Salt Lake County Health Department.

"How you handle the food after the meal is equally important," she added, noting that "reheating will not always destroy the culpable bacteria, so consumers must act to prevent it."

Gamble has a formula — "2 hours/2 inches/4 days" — that she cites when asked for recommendations about how to avoid becoming one of the 400,000 Americans who get food poisoning each year after Thanksgiving.

The formula says:

• Prepared foods should not be left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.

• Refrigerated foods should be no deeper than about 2 inches thick because it's unsafe to store food in large chunks that do not cool quickly enough.

• Eat leftovers within four days.

"Remember the old rule," Gamble said. "Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Harmful bacteria multiply quickly in the danger zone between 40 degrees and 140 degrees Fahrenheit."