KEEPING YOUR EASTER FARE SAFE.

This Easter, when trying a new twist to ham and lamb dishes or whipping up Easter eggs, remember food safety.

Like many foods, ham, lamb and hard-cooked eggs are highly perishable and can easily become contaminated by bacteria if they are not handled or prepared properly. But you can keep holiday foods safe to eat by practicing the basic food safety rules: Keep cold food cold, hot food hot and all food clean.

So go ahead and add a special glaze to your ham, try a new recipe with a leg of lamb, and be creative with those hard-cooked eggs. To help you do it safely, here are answers to questions consumers commonly ask about these foods.

HAM Q: Fresh pork and ham look different, but why? What exactly is ham?

A: Ham is the meat from the hind leg of the pig that has been cured and possibly canned or smoked. The cure is a water and brine solution that gives ham that distinctive taste and pink color, and helps preserve its freshness longer than uncured pork. Common curing ingredients include salt (preserves the meat), sugar (adds flavor), phosphate (makes the meat moist) and sodium nitrite (protects against spoilage and food poisoning bacteria).

Q: How long can ham be kept in the refrigerator before cooking?

A: What does the label advise? The label is the best guide for determining storage time. It gives the product name, tells whether it's smoked or cured and whether you must refrigerate it. Look for instructions on the label that say how long you can keep the product. Here are some guidelines for storage of the different hams you may find in the grocery store:

Fully cooked uncanned hams keep about a week in the refrigerator. Place in the coldest part, nearest the freezer compartment.

Most fully cooked canned hams need to be refrigerated, too. A few brands are processed so that refrigeration isn't necessary. Check the label to see which kind you've purchased. The canned type that requires cooling can be kept in the refrigerator from six to nine months. A canned ham that does not need refrigeration will keep even longer. Just make sure the can isn't showing any bulges, cracks or dents.

Country hams, country-style hams and dry-cured hams are dried and cured with salt, then smoked and aged to give the meat a distinctive flavor. They can be kept for several months without refrigeration. Don't be alarmed if you spot small mold patches on the outer skin. You can trim away this mold, and the rest of the meat will be good to eat. But after you cut into these hams and expose the inner tissue, it's best to use them right away.

Q: Is there any danger of contracting trichinosis from ham?

A: There is no danger of getting trichinosis from eating fully cooked hams. These are specially processed according to USDA guidelines to kill trichinae and are ready to eat.

Fresh pork or ham that says ``cook before eating,'' however, needs extra care in preparation. Thorough cooking (to 170 degrees F) will kill the organisms that can cause trichinosis. The only sure way to know if pork reaches this temperature is to insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the cut, not touching the bone or fat.

Q: Is a frozen ham that was bought during the Christmas holidays safe to eat on Easter?

A: There's no problem with the ham being safe to eat. But since it has been frozen longer than recommended, it may have lost some flavor, and the texture may have changed. Ham, uncooked or leftover, maintains optimum quality when frozen for one to two months.

LAMB Q: What is spring lamb?

A: Young lambs that are processed between March and the first week in October are often labeled ``spring lamb.'' Lambs are usually marketed when they are 6 to 8 months old.

Q: How can you be sure the lamb purchased came from an animal less than a year old?

A: When selecting lamb, look for meat that is pinkish-red and has a velvety texture. Because lamb is from young animals, it should have very little fat in the meat and only a thin layer around the meat. The bones should be reddish. Meat from older animals must be labeled ``mutton.''

Q: What are safe storing procedures for lamb?

A: Lamb may be refrigerated for one to two days. Shoulders, legs, chops and steaks can be frozen six to nine months, while stew and ground lamb will keep three to four months. Leftover lamb should be refrigerated and used in three to four days or it can be frozen for two to three months.

Q: How should lamb be thawed?

A: Lamb, like all meats, should be thawed in the refrigerator. It can also be thawed in the microwave oven on low power (check your manual). Thawing at room temperature is not recommended. While the inner layer of the lamb is thawing, the outer layer, which thaws much more quickly, can reach a temperature that allows bacterial growth.

Q: Can lamb be cooked without thawing it?

A: Yes, but allow more cooking time. How much longer depends on the size and thickness of the lamb and the cooking technique. It is best to use a meat thermometer to assure that the proper cooking temperature for lamb (170 to 180 degrees F) is reached before removing meat from the oven.

EASTER EGGS Q: Is it safe to hide colored eggs around the house the night before the Easter-egg hunt?

A: No. The shells of hard-cooked eggs lose some of their natural protective covering when cooked, and the pores in the shells open. Because eggs are also handled quite a bit during the dyeing process, it's possible that bacteria from your hands could seep through the shells, contaminating the eggs. If eggs are left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours, bacteria could multiply to dangerous levels and cause food poisoning. It's best to keep hard-cooked eggs refrigerated until hiding time.

Q: Is it safe to eat dyed eggs after the Easter egg hunt?

A: Yes, but hard-cooked eggs are perishable so they must be handled carefully.

Immediately after cooking, run cold water over the eggs and refrigerate promptly. Hard-cooked eggs should not be out of the refrigerator more than two hours - a time span to keep in mind when you plan the dyeing, hiding and hunting of Easter eggs. Another caution: Don't use cracked hard-cooked eggs for the hunt because bacteria can easily get into the cracks and contaminate the eggs.

Q: How long can hard-cooked eggs be stored in the refrigerator?

A: Hard-cooked eggs will keep in the refrigerator for a week. Cracked eggs, however, may dry out. To preserve freshness, remove the shells and place the eggs in a tightly closed container or wrap in plastic wrap. Use in one to two days.

Q: How can you tell if an egg is hard-cooked or raw?

A: Try spinning the egg. Cooked eggs will spin easily; raw eggs will not. The raw egg yolk is heavier than the egg white and it moves around inside the shell, so the egg is unbalanced. The yolk and the egg white are both solid in a hard-cooked egg, which makes it easy to spin.

Q: Is the greenish discoloration on the yolk of a hard-cooked egg harmful?

A: No. The harmless green discoloration is a natural chemical reaction between sulphur in the egg white and iron in the yolk. To help prevent it, avoid overcooking and cool the eggs promptly.

For answers to questions on other meat and poultry products, call the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hot Line, [phone], staffed by home economists from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.