Don't let foodborne illness ruin your summer! Follow these simple food safety tips to stay happy and healthy throughout the grilling season:

Purchasing / Storing Foods:

• When shopping at the grocery store, buy meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products last. Keep them separate from other foods in your grocery cart.
• Try to purchase sustainably-raised meat and poultry; in addition to being better for your health and the environment, these products have been shown to contain lower levels of harmful bacteria than foods produced on factory farms. (People also say this type of meat simply tastes better!)
• After buying ground meat or poultry, cook it within a day or two - otherwise, freeze it. Steaks and other larger cuts of meat should be cooked within 4 days of purchase.
• Don't let raw meat, poultry, eggs, or seafood come in contact with other foods. Before refrigerating, seal these foods to prevent their juices from dripping onto other items in your refrigerator.
• Keep foods refrigerated until you're ready to cook them. Going to a barbeque or a picnic? Use a cooler to keep foods cold. On especially hot days, cover the cooler with a tarp or a blanket to provide extra insulation.
• Use a separate cooler for beverages so that the cooler containing meats and other perishables won't be constantly opened and closed.
• Store raw meat, poultry, and seafood at the bottom of the cooler in order to prevent their juices from dripping onto other foods.

Food Preparation

• Before and after preparing foods, wash your hands! Be certain to wash hands after using the bathroom, changing diapers, or handling pets.
• Before preparing food, wash cutting boards, dishes, and any surfaces you plan to use for food preparation.
• If you're cooking outdoors, find out if there's a safe source of water for food preparation and hand washing. If not, wash foods at home and bring water or hand wipes for cleaning your hands.
• Wood cutting boards can absorb juices, and plastic ones can become scratched, running the risk of the plastic getting into your food. Tempered glass cutting boards are best – tempering makes the glass especially durable and juices and odors won't absorb into the board.
• If possible, use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry and seafood, and another for produce and other foods.
• Wash fruits and vegetables in cold, drinkable water before cooking, grilling, or eating. Buy fruits and vegetables locally when they are in season – less pesticides are used on foods that are not stored for long periods of time and are not shipped long distances. And, remember, even fruits with skins or rinds (like watermelons or oranges) should be washed – any contaminants on the outside could penetrate into the fruit when cut or onto your hands when eating.
• There is no general consensus on using vegetable washes or dish detergent to wash foods with. Many believe that plain water and a brush (if appropriate) are as equally effective as using a wash – so why spend the money? And using washes could potentially leave residue from the wash on the food. The USDA and FDA recommend using cold, drinkable water.
• Wash hands, dishes, cutting boards, and utensils after they have touched raw meat, or seafood. Never put cooked foods on dishes previously used for raw foods. Remember to bring extra dishes and utensils if you're grilling outdoors.
• Marinate all foods in the refrigerator.
• Defrost frozen food by placing it on a plate in a refrigerator or by using a microwave. Do not defrost food by leaving it on the countertop. This increases the chances of pathogens getting onto the food. Cook foods immediately after defrosting.

Grilling / Cooking
The best way to ensure that food is cooked thoroughly is to use a meat thermometer, which should be inserted into the thickest part of the meat, away from bone, fat, and gristle. Cook foods to the following temperatures:¹

• Ground beef: 160 o F.
• Beef roasts and steaks: 145 o F for rare, 160 o F for medium.
• Pork roasts, chops, and ground patties: 160 o F for medium, 170 o F for medium.
• Raw sausages: 160 o F.
• Ready-to-eat sausages: 165 o F.
• Hot dogs and other pre-cooked meats: 165 o F.
• Chicken breasts: 170 o F.
• Whole poultry: 180 o F.
• Ground poultry: 165 o F.
• Fish should be cooked until opaque and flaky.

If a meat thermometer is not available

• Cook meat until it is brown inside. Do not eat beef that is pink in the middle.
• Cook poultry until its juices are clear and the meat is white in the middle.
• In order to destroy all harmful bacteria, cook foods until they are completely finished. Do not partially cook meat or poultry to use later.
• Keep meat, poultry, and seafood in your refrigerator or cooler until you're ready to cook it - only remove as much food as you can fit on your grill.
• Use tongs or a spatula to turn steaks instead of a fork - piercing meat with a fork can contaminate the inside of the meat with bacteria.
• When grilling, you can prevent flare-ups by trimming visible fat off meat and poultry before cooking.
• Don't reuse sauce that was used to marinate raw meat, poultry, or seafood unless you reheat it to the boiling point first.
• Use clean plates and utensils when handling cooked meat, poultry, and seafood.

Refrigerating Leftovers

• Refrigerate leftovers promptly. Perishable foods should not be left unrefrigerated for more than two hours (if the temperature is 90 o F or higher, foods should be refrigerated after one hour).
• Set your refrigerator to 40 o F and set your freezer to 0 o F. Use a refrigerator thermometer to check the temperature.
• Reheat leftovers to at least 165 o F.
• Don't leave leftovers in your fridge for too long! Not sure how long food will keep in your refrigerator or freezer? Consult the USDA's Cold Storage Chart.

For more information:
Barbecue Food Safety – USDA
This site provides an overview of food safety for barbequing and grilling.

Fight BAC! – Partnership for Food Safety Education
This site contains concise food safety information for consumers and educators. The site also includes a kids section.

Food Safety – The Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Includes numerous links to sources of information about food safety.

Washing Fruits and Vegetables
Ann Zander, Colorado State University, Cooperative Extension, Boulder County, June 30, 2000

USDA's Meat and Poultry hotline:
1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854)

USDA's Food Safety Information Hotline:
1-888-SAFEFOOD (1-888-723-3366) 24 hr.

Sources

• Partnership for Food Safety Education. “ Food Safety for… Meat, Poultry, and Seafood Lovers .” Partnership for Food Safety Education. 2004.