Outdoor Eating Food Safety Tips
Picnic and barbeque season begins
early here in South Florida and is enjoyed year-round by many. Here are
some tips to help you practice safe food handling techniques when eating
outdoors to protect yourself, your family, and friends from food borne
illness. Keep these tips in mind when preparing, storing, and cooking
food for picnics and barbecues.
What is food borne illness and what are the symptoms?
Foodborne illness is caused from eating contaminated food and often
presents with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or fever.
How can I prevent food borne illness?
There are four basic steps to follow:
1. Clean
- Wash hand and surfaces often.
- Always wash hands with warm soapy water:
- Before handling food; after handling food; after
using the bathroom; after changing a diaper; after tending to a sick
person; after blowing nose, coughing, or sneezing; and after
handling pets.
2. Separate: Don’t cross contaminate
3. Cook: Cook to proper temperatures
4. Chill: Refrigerate promptly
When You Transport Food:
- Keep cold food cold. Place cold food in a cooler
with ice or frozen gel packs. Cold food should be held at or below
40° F.
- Consider packing beverages in one cooler and
perishable food in another.
- Meat, poultry, and seafood may be packed while it
is still frozen so that it stays colder longer. Be sure to keep raw
meat, poultry, and seafood securely wrapped so their juices don’t
contaminate cooked foods or foods eaten raw such as fruits and
vegetables. Don’t forget to rinse raw fruits and vegetables in water
before packing them.
Safe Grilling Tips:
-
 Marinate foods in the refrigerator, not on the
counter or outdoors. If some of the marinade is to be used as a
sauce on the cooked food, reserve a portion separately before adding
the raw meat, poultry, or seafood. Don’t reuse marinade.
- Don’t use the same platter and utensils that
previously held raw meat or seafood to serve cooked meats and
seafood.
- If you partially cook food in the microwave,
oven, or stove to reduce grilling time, do so immediately before the
food goes on the hot grill.
- When it’s time to cook the food, cook it
thoroughly. Use a food thermometer to be sure.
- Beef, veal, and lamb steaks and roasts - 145°
F for
 medium rare, 160° F for medium, and 170° F for well done.
- Ground pork and ground beef - 160° F.
- Ground poultry - 165° F.
- Poultry breasts - 170° F.
- Whole poultry (take measurement in the thigh)
- 180° F.
- Finish - 145° F or until the flesh is opaque
and separates easily with a fork.
- Shrimp, lobster, and crabs – the meat should
be pearly and opaque.
- Clams, oysters, and mussels – until the
shells are open.
- Grilled food can be kept hot until served by
moving it to the side of the grill rack, just away from the
coals where it can overcook.
When You Serve Food:
- Keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot.
- Do not use a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafood
for anything else unless the plate has first been washed in hot, soapy
water.
- Hot food should be kept hot, at or above 140° F. Wrap well and place
in an insulated container.
- Foods like chicken salad and desserts in individual serving dishes can
also be placed directly on ice, or in a shallow container set in a deep
pan filled with ice. Drain off water as ice melts and replace ice
frequently.
- Don’t let perishable food sit out longer than 2 hours.
- Food should not sit out for more than 1 hour in temperatures above 90°
F.
Is it safe to eat leftover food that was left out on the counter to cool
at dinnertime? Will additional cooking kill the bacteria that may have
grown?
No. Bacteria exist everywhere in nature. They are in the soil, air,
water, and the foods we eat. When they have nutrients (food), moisture,
and favorable temperatures, they grow rapidly, increasing in numbers to
the point where some types of bacteria can cause illness. Bacteria grow
most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 and 140° F, some
doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. Some types will produce
toxins that are not destroyed by cooking.
 Harmful bacteria do not generally affect the taste, smell, or appearance
of a food. In other words, one cannot tell that a food has been
mishandled or is dangerous to eat. For example, food that has been left
too long on the counter may be dangerous to eat, but could smell and
look fine. If a food has been left in the “Danger Zone”, between 40 and
140° F for more than 2 hours, discard it, even though it may look and
smell good. Never taste a food to see if it is spoiled!
Source:
www.cfsan.fda.gov
From the Palm Beach County
Epidemiology and Disease Control.
Florida Department of Health Bureau of Epidemiology
www.doh.state.fl.us
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