Picnics, camping and food safety
If you are planning a picnic or camping trip please use the following food safety tips.
- Refrigerate or freeze food, if possible, the day before you pack it. This way it's already cold when you put it in the esky.
- Keep food cold at or below 5°C with ice, freezer blocks or frozen drinks in an esky or use a portable car fridge.
- Use a freezer ice pack rather than ice because they drip less. Loose ice melts and the drip can possibly transfer contaminants from one food to another. If you use loose ice, store everything in sealed containers to prevent cross-contamination.
- Place your esky in the coolest part of your car when you're traveling.
- Keep the esky out of the sun and keep the lid closed as often as you can. You may want to use two eskies - one for drinks (since it may be opened more often) and another for food.
- Don't eat food that's meant to be in the fridge if left out for more than two hours.
- Separate raw food from cooked food. Place raw meat and poultry in sealed containers and pack them at the bottom of the esky to keep their juices from dripping onto other food.
- Don't pour marinade used on raw meat over food that is ready to serve. For example, salads or other cooked meats.
- Use disposable or clean utensils, plates and trays after each meal.
- Don't forget to wash and sanitize inside the esky before and after each use.
- Follow the same hand washing rules outdoors as you do at home. Bring some soap and wash your hands with clean water and dry well. Bring a hand sanitizer along to use if water is not readily available.
Make sure there's no pink left in cooked meats such as mince, sausages or chicken.