Summer Food Safety

Summer and outdoor cooking go together. Make sure that food-borne illness isn’t a part of the season. Always practice food safety so that food-borne illness does not spoil summer fun.

Wash hands and surfaces often when preparing food.  When cooking outdoors wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before preparing the meal, especially after handling raw meat and poultry, and after using the restroom. Use paper towels for drying your hands and cleaning surfaces.

Don’t cross-contaminate by putting cooked or ready-to-eat food on the same surface where raw meat has been. When packing a cooler  for an outing, wrap raw meats securely so that raw meat juices cannot come in contact with or drip onto ready-to-eat or already cooked foods. Wash plates, utensils, and cutting boards that held the raw meat or poultry before using them again for cooked food.

Keep cold foods refrigerated or use frozen gel packs in coolers to keep food at proper holding temperature. Cold food held at room or outdoor temperatures for more than two hours may not be safe to eat. If you are eating outside on a hot day, when the outdoor temperatures reach 90 degrees F or above, food should not be left out of refrigeration or a cooler longer than one hour.

To keep coolers with food as cold as possible, don’t open them often. If the outdoor meal will include drinks, put the drinks in a separate cooler. This will avoid having to open the food cooler to take out drinks, letting the food cooler stay closed and keeping the cold inside it.

Use a food thermometer to ensure food has reached the correct temperature. According to recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ground meat products such as hamburger must be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.  Chicken and turkey, 165 degrees F. Steak and fish should be grilled to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.

Barbecue sauces and marinades are popular when cooking out on a grill. “There are special food-safety precautions for preparing these popular dishes,” Boyer said. “When marinating meat, put the meat and marinade in a clean glass dish and place it in the refrigerator for the time it needs to marinate. Never leave meat on the kitchen counter at room temperature.”

Store  leftovers in clean shallow containers and placing them in the refrigerator immediately. Leftovers may be reheated on a grill to provide added flavor, but make sure all leftovers are heated to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F or above.

Virginia Cooperative Extension