Summertime Food Safety Guidelines

FSIS, other government agencies and food producers go to great lengths to keep food safe, and, of course, consumers can protect themselves at home with proper refrigeration and thorough cooking of perishable foods. Follow these four simple steps to safe food in the summertime.

Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often. Unwashed hands are a prime cause of foodborne illness.

• Whenever possible, wash your hands with hot, soapy water before handling food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers and handling pets.
• When eating away from home, pack clean, wet disposable washcloths and paper towels for cleaning hands and surfaces.

Separate: Don’t cross contaminate. Cross contamination during preparation, grilling and serving food is a prime cause for foodborne illness.

• When packing the cooler chest for an outing, wrap raw meats securely; avoid raw meat juices from coming in contact with ready to eat foods.
• Wash plates, utensils and cutting boards that held the raw meat or poultry before using again for cooked food.

Cook to proper temperatures. Food safety experts agree that foods are properly cooked when they are heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness.

• Take a thermometer along. Meat and poultry cooked on a grill often browns very fast on the outside, so be sure that meats are cooked thoroughly. Check temperature with a thermometer.
• Cook hamburger and other ground meats (veal, lamb and pork) to an internal temperature of 160°F and ground poultry to 165°F.
• Cook steaks and roasts that have been tenderized, boned, rolled, etc., to an internal temperature of 160°F for medium and 170°F for well-done. Whole steaks and roasts may be cooked to 145°F for medium rare.
• Whole poultry should be cooked to 180°F in the thigh. Breast meat should be 170°F.
• Cook meat and poultry completely at the picnic site. Partial cooking of foods ahead of time allows bacteria to survive and multiply to the point that subsequent cooking cannot destroy them.

Chill: Refrigerate promptly. Holding food at an unsafe temperature is a prime cause of foodborne illness. Keep cold foods cold!

• Cold, refrigerated, perishable foods like luncheon meats, cooked meats, chicken and potato or pasta salads should be kept in an insulated cooler packed with several inches of ice, ice packs or containers of frozen water.
• Consider packing canned beverages in one cooler and perishable foods in another cooler because the beverage cooler will probably be opened frequently.
• Keep the cooler out of the trunk and place in the shade or shelter, out of the sun whenever possible to help keep foods cold.
• Preserve the cold temperature of the cooler by replenishing the ice as soon as it starts melting.
• If a cooler chest is not an option, consider taking fruits, vegetables, hard cheese, canned or dried meats, dried cereal, bread, peanut butter, crackers and a bottle of refreshing beverage.
• Take-out foods: If you don’t plan to eat take-out foods within 2 hours of purchase, plan ahead and chill the food in your refrigerator before packing for your outing.

A word about leftovers. Food left out of refrigeration for more than 2 hours may not be safe to eat. At 90°F or above, food should not be left out over 1 hour. Play it safe; put leftover perishables back on ice once you finish eating so they do not spoil or become unsafe to eat. If you have any doubts, throw it out.

For additional food safety information about meat, poultry or eggs, call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-800-535-4555. It is staffed by home economists, registered dietitians and food technologists weekdays from 10 am to 4 pm eastern time, year round. An extensive selection of food safety recordings can be heard 24 hours a day using a touch-tone phone.

Information is also available from the FSIS Web site: www.fsis.usda.gov.

Source: Centers for Disease Control "Incidence of Foodborne Illness: Preliminary Data from the Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network - United States, 1998." This information was reported in the MMWR March 12, 1999.

 

June 2000
Problem with Pines | Tomatoes - Questions & Answers | Plan A Cutting Garden | Bug Bites: Cucumber Beetles & Japanese Beetles | Hort Shorts | Hort Tips | Locally Grown: In Season Produce | Spotting Health Fraud | Foodborne Illness Peaks in Summer - Why? | Summertime Food Safety Guidelines | Health & Household Tips | Did You Know...

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