Summer is filled with gorgeous weather, meaning there are many opportunities for barbecues, picnics, potlucks, and pool parties. Along with these occasions, comes delicious food. Food safety is important when you’re cooking and eating at home, and it’s even more vital when you’re cooking and eating outdoors. We’ve put together these 10 quick tips to help your summer cookouts stay safe. (And prevent you from becoming the neighborhood pariah for accidentally giving all your neighbors food poisoning!)
- Prepare food ahead of time. Not only can preparing food outdoors be a hassle, but it’s also not as clean an environment to prepare food. Slice foods ahead of time, or use pre-packaged foods like baby carrots, hummus or vegetable and fruit trays.
- Always separate foods. When transporting or serving food, it’s best to keep different kinds of food in separate containers to avoid cross-contamination. It’s especially important for raw meat to be handled and stored separate from everything else – including in separate coolers.
- Keep coolers closed. Try to limit the number of times your coolers are opened, and make sure they’re tightly closed when you’re not using them so the food inside stays cold.
- Keep food at a safe temperature. Hot foods must be kept at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or higher and cold foods need to be kept below 40 degrees. The zone in-between 40 and 140 degrees creates a prime environment for dangerous bacterial growth.
- Marinate in the fridge. Its safest to marinate food in the refrigerator, never marinate outdoors or at room temperature. And don’t re-use marinade as a sauce or to marinate other foods.
- Cook food all the way through. Always use a food thermometer to make sure raw meats and seafoods are cooked to the proper temperature.
- Ditch your bristle-brush grill cleaner. Metal bristle brushes are a common grilling tool, and they do an efficient job of buffing charred food and grease from the grill. But, the bristles can sometimes fall out of the brush and make their way into your food. Accidentally ingesting a metal bristle can cause injuries to the mouth and throat, or be accidentally swallowed. Use a scraping tool or a bristle-free brush instead.
- Finish within the hour. Both hot and cold foods should not sit out for longer than 2 hours, or 1 hour if the outside temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If food is left out longer, throw it out.
- When in doubt, throw it out. If something looks off to you, or you’re suspicious that a dish has been sitting out too long or at the wrong temperature, you should play it safe and throw it out.
- Get medical help for food poisoning. Most people see food poisoning as an inconvenient and temporary illness, but not life threatening. However, some cases of food poisoning can be very dangerous, including e-Coli and botulism. You should seek emergency treatment if you see any of these symptoms:
- Blood in your vomit or feces
- Blurry vision
- Diarrhea for more than 3 days
- Extreme pain or cramps in your belly
- Fever over 101.5 F
- Vomiting that won’t stop
- Tingling in your arms
- Weakness in your muscles