Easter, Passover, Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations, weddings -- the list of parties and special occasions goes on and on and on.

A popular way to celebrate these special occasions and others is to invite friends and family to a buffet. However, this type of party, where foods are left out for long periods, leaves the door open for not only the invited guests -- but uninvited guests, such as bacteria that cause foodborne illness.

"Let's face it. Foodborne bacteria like to crash parties," says Susan Conley, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's toll-free Meat and Poultry Hotline.

"And what's worse is that they don't leave their calling cards until well after the party is over. You can't see them. You can't taste them. But you sure can feel them if illness occurs hours or days later."

How do you keep these uninvited guests away? Here are some helpful hints to assure that your party is a memorable one, but not for the wrong reasons.

• "Always wash your hands before and after handling food," says Conley. Keep your kitchen, dishes and utensils clean also. Always serve food on clean plates, not those previously holding raw meat and poultry.
• If you are cooking foods ahead of time for your buffet, be sure to cook foods thoroughly to safe temperatures. Cook fresh roast beef to at least 145 degrees F for medium rare and 160 degrees F for medium doneness. Bake whole poultry to 180 degrees F and poultry breasts to 170 degrees F. Ground poultry should be cooked to 165 degrees F. All other meat, fish and ground red meats should be cooked to 160 degrees F.
• Conley advises that party hosts divide cooked foods into small shallow containers to store in the refrigerator or freezer until serving. "This encourages rapid and even cooling."
• Reheat hot foods to 165 degrees F. Arrange and serve food on several small platters rather than on one large platter. Keep the rest of the food hot in the oven or cold in the refrigerator until serving time. This way foods will be held at safe temperatures for a longer time.
• Conley also says to replace empty platters rather than adding fresh food to a dish that already had food on it. "Many people's hands may have taken food from the dish, which was also sitting at room temperature for awhile."
• Foods should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours. Keep track of how long foods have been sitting on the buffet table and discard anything there two hours or more. If the buffet is held outdoors, and the outside temperature is above 85 degrees F, then the holding time is reduced to one hour.
• Hot foods should be held at 140 degrees F or warmer. On the buffet table you can keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, crock pots and warming trays. Cold foods should be held at 40 degrees F or colder. Keep foods cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice. Otherwise, use small serving trays and replace them often.
• Finally, Conley advises that when the party's over, discard any foods that sat for two hours or more on the buffet table. "Other leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen in shallow containers."

Want more information? Call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline, toll-free at 1-800-535-4555. In the Washington, D.C. area call (202) 720-3333.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. And 24 hours a day, timely recorded messages are available through a "menu" system using a touch-tone telephone.