Environment Task Force Newsletter
Ohio State University Extension
Summer, 1998, v2 #2

Summertime, and the Cookin' is Easy (Keep It Safe, Too)

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, Ashtabula County Family & Consumer Sciences Agent

Warm sunny weather encourages people to move outside for work, play, entertainment and, of course, cooking.

Warm weather is a good time to cook out, but warm temperatures are also ideal for bacteria and other pathogens to multiply and cause food-borne illness, or what most of us call food poisoning.

Here are some simple guidelines that can help eliminate problems with summertime food safety risks:

• At the grocery store, guard against cross-contamination by putting packages of raw meat and poultry into plastic bags and keeping them away from your raw vegetables.
• You may want to keep a cooler in your car during hot summer weather, especially if your home is more than 30 minutes from the grocery store. Take your groceries straight home. Don't allow them to sit in a hot car while you run other errands.
• Freeze any poultry or ground meat that won't be used within one or two days.
• Completely thaw meat and poultry before grilling it. This will allow the food to cook more evenly. Use your refrigerator for slow, safe thawing.
• If your recipe calls for marinating, do this in the refrigerator, not at room temperature. Don't reuse marinades used with raw meat or poultry for sauces unless they are boiled first to destroy any bacteria.
• Some people like to cook food partially in the microwave, stove or oven to reduce grilling time. This precooking should be done immediately before taking the food to the grill.
• Similarly, never partially grill meat or poultry and finish cooking later. Cook food completely to destroy harmful bacteria.
• Be sure there are plenty of clean utensils and platters for separately handling raw food and cooked food. Unless they're thoroughly washed between uses, don't use the same platter and utensils for raw and cooked meat. If there were any bacteria present in the raw meat, it could contaminate the safely cooked meat.
• Meat and poultry cooked on a grill often browns very fast on the outside. If possible, use a meat thermometer to be sure the food has reached a safe internal temperature.
• Whole poultry should reach 180 degrees F, juices should run clear, and the flesh should not be pink.
• Hamburgers made of any ground meat or poultry should reach 160 degrees F. There are some quick-read thermometers available that can give you an accurate temperature fast.

The final word in outdoor cooking and eating is keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. After cooking meat or poultry on the grill, keep it hot until served. When carrying food to a picnic site, keep it cold to minimize bacterial growth. A good rule of thumb is that food should not be kept at room temperature for more than two hours, or less during extremely hot summer weather.