Summer Food Safety
I’m writing this on a cold, rainy, gray day with an equally dismal forecast for the Memorial Day weekend. This weekend is usually the start of outdoor eating season. If you’re lucky, it already is where you are. Maybe you’re planning a picnic or you’re taking some food to a barbecue. Perhaps you’re packing snacks for a long road trip. In anticipation of some not-too-distant future picnic and barbecue season, here are some pointers for preventing bad food from ruining your weekend or your summer.
1. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold as much as possible. Most food-poisoning bugs like the same temperatures we do: 40-140° degrees F. Well, I don’t like anything over 80°, but you get the idea. Food safety experts call this the Danger Zone.
2. Don’t leave food sitting out for more than 2 hours. The longer food sits at room or air temperature, the closer the food’s temperature gets to the bacteria’s preferred temperature. One way to more safely put hot food away is to divide it into smaller containers, which will cool more quickly due to greater surface area.
3. Cook your meat thoroughly. Invest in a meat thermometer and learn what safe temperatures are. Refer to this handy chart to find the different safe cooking temperatures for different meats. Generally, 165° for chicken, 140° for pork, 145° for steaks, and 160° for ground meat. Fish should flake easily when fully cooked.
4. Don’t defrost foods on the counter. Maybe you stocked up on ground turkey or steaks when they were on sale, waiting for the first opportunity to grill. Ideally, you will take your frozen packs of protein out of the freezer a day or two before you need them and defrost them in the refrigerator. If you didn’t leave enough time, you can defrost them under cool running water or in the microwave. Once you’ve defrosted meat, cook it right away and don’t put it back in the freezer.
5. Don’t marinate foods on the counter, either. See point 1 about the Danger Zone.
6. Keep clean. Use separate cutting boards for raw meat and vegetables. Wash hands and surfaces frequently. Clean up as you go along. When it’s time to eat, encourage everyone to wash hands or at a minimum offer sanitizing wipes or gels.
7. If you’re traveling with foods, pack cold foods directly from your fridge to your cooler. Use plenty of ice packs or bagged ice. If your cooler isn’t full, add more ice. Consider using a separate cooler for drinks. Every time you open a cooler, cold air escapes, warming up the temperature inside the cooler. You can use a cooler to keep hot dishes hot, too. Wrap hot dishes up in dish towels or blankets for insulation.
End of lecture. Enjoy your summer eating! Share your favorite picnic and grilling ideas!