Picnics, barbecues,
family, friends and the traditional start of summer… Who doesn’t love
Memorial Day weekend? While you’re assembling your list of activities for the
busy holiday weekend, you may want to remember to add some standard food safety
precautions to the agenda. With the warmer weather, the buffet style feeding
frenzy, and the potluck smorgasbords that you’re about to partake in, your risk
for a foodborne illness is likely to increase significantly. And, I didn’t even
mention the lack of hand washing facilities, in some instances… step away from my
food!
· • Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm
water (100⁰F) before handling any food and after handling raw meat, poultry, or
raw eggs.
· • Always rinse fresh fruits and vegetables.
· • Cook foods to the required temperatures,
especially ground beef (155⁰F), pork (145⁰F), and poultry (165⁰F).
· • Keep hot foods hot (above 135⁰F) and cold foods
cold (below 41⁰F).
Avoid cross contamination, don’t let raw meat products come
into contact with ready-to-eat foods (i.e. lettuce, tomato, onions, cheese,
bread). Don’t use the same plates and
utensils for raw and cooked meat products; for example, don’t carry meat to the
grill on a plate and then place the cooked burgers on that same plate without
first properly washing it. Someone could get E.coli or Salmonella as a result
of this cross-contamination and spend hours lying on the bathroom floor… or
worse.
Many picnic foods are potentially hazardous, and should be
handled with care:
· • Any product that contains eggs, meat, poultry,
tuna, potatoes, pasta, etc.
· • Lunchmeats, protein foods, ham salad, chicken
salad, tuna salad, etc.
· • Meat, fish, poultry
· • Milk and dairy
· • Sliced tomatoes
· • Cut melons – yes, melons!
Again, KEEP HOT FOODS HOT (above 135⁰F) and KEEP COLD FOODS
COLD (below 41⁰F)! Enjoy your time with your family and friends, and keep
everyone safe and healthy!
