It’s summertime, and the living is easy. You may find yourself on more road trips or with more situations where you are traveling with food or making food outside. It is so important to handle food properly! You don’t want to get sick, and you definitely don’t want to get others sick either.
Keep Your Food Safe and Your Summer Fun- Food Safety 101
When you are traveling with food to a cookout or picnic make sure to bring an insulated cooler filled with ice or ice packs. Foods that must stay cold include raw meat, poultry, seafood, deli meats and sandwiches, cold salads such as chicken, tuna or egg salad, chopped fruits and vegetables and dairy products. By filling the cooler with food and ice, it will maintain its temperature longer than if you only fill it half way. If you have extra space, you could add some cold water bottles. Keep the cooler in the shade if possible and only open it when you need something!
You May Also Like: How to Throw a Healthy Cookout
While cooking and grilling outside, there are a few food safety rules to adhere to:
- Use separate cutting boards for raw meat and fresh fruits/vegetables and also use separate plates and utensils for raw and cooked meat.
- Keep all your foods cold until cooking time by using a cooler or waiting to take things out of the refrigerator.
- Go out and get yourself a meat thermometer if you don’t already have one! Red meat such as beef, pork, and lamb should be cooked to 145 °F. Ground meat such as burgers should be cooked to 160 °F. Poultry should be cooked to 165 °F.
These rules are super important! They will help prevent food borne illnesses.
Overall, be mindful of where you are leaving food when you are outside and how you are storing food. Perishable food shouldn’t sit out on for more than two hours. Try to rotate your dishes and keep things in the refrigerator or cooler until right before they need to be served. Enjoy your summer and remember that food safety is always important!