These popular holiday potluck dishes are putting your guests in danger

You should enjoy your Christmas cookies — not toss them.

With the holidays comes family gatherings, parties and, of course, food galore, but experts are cautioning against certain menu staples that could result in an unwanted gift: food poisoning.

“If you are participating in a potluck, there is a basic food safety concept that is essential to prevent making people sick: time and temperature abuse,” STOP Foodborne Illness CEO Mitzi Baum told HuffPost.

They say timing is everything, but with food, this is especially true.

The cardinal rule of cooking is avoiding the “temperature danger zone” of 40°F to 140°F. If dishes fall into those temperatures for two hours or more, they can harbor dangerous bacteria.

In other words, cold foods should stay cold and hot foods should be kept hot.

“That is why at potlucks you need to keep cold foods on ice to maintain a food temperature below 40℉ and hot foods should have a heating element, a chafing dish to keep the food temperature above 140℉ at any type of shared gathering,” Baum explained.

When it comes to chowing down at the family potluck, there are six common foods experts would recommend leaving at home.

Tree nuts are one of the most common food allergies, and not always easy to detect in a dish, making a recipe for disaster in mixed company.

Seafood creates more hidden pitfalls. The rising steam from a cooked fish in the air could be enough to trigger an allergy. And while sushi may be an elegant choice for serving, raw fish must remain at an extra chilly temperature to avoid rapid bacterial growth — especially if the rolls are homemade. Turns out, the choice to add vinegar to rice isn’t entirely a matter of flavor: restaurants also add acids to mitigate the proliferation of germs. According to Clemson University food scientists, properly acidified sushi rice should have a pH value of below 4.2.

Mayonnaise-based salads — egg, macaroni, potato — can also pose a risk for foodborne illness, but not because of the mayo.

“When people get sick from a mayonnaise-based salad, it is instantly determined that the mayonnaise is the culprit, when the culprit is actually the protein or the hydrated or cooked carbohydrate,” Baum revealed.

Kimberly Baker, food systems and safety program team director at Clemson, recalled a time she was sickened by only one bite of potato salad that had warmed to room temperature.

“I didn’t eat any more of it because I knew it was not cold enough, but it only took that one bite to make me very sick,” she said.

Leafy greens are known for occasionally causing foodborne illness, but the way they are prepared can also pose a risk, like if the salad is mixed with someone’s bare hands, or if cross-contamination occurs by way of an unclean knife or cutting board.

Lastly, baked potatoes wrapped in foil are a breeding ground for bacteria because the aluminum foil makes a low-oxygen environment for them to thrive.

“You’ve created an ideal environment for botulism because now you’ve got the moisture of the steam on the inside, so you have an ideal birthing chamber for bacteria to grow at an alarming rate,” said Ray Campbell, Tulane Dining Services’ health and safety manager.

Making sure to remove it can lower the risk of bacteria growing on the spuds.

While food poisoning symptoms can be as small as minor stomach pains or a case of the runs, it can also cause vomiting, fever and dehydration. Children, the elderly and immunocompromised people are most at risk of complications from foodborne pathogens, which could result in hospitalization.