Fourth of July Food Safety Tips

It's Fourth of July weekend, so chances are you'll be firing up the grill at some point. Patch decided to revisit these food-safety tips that Lea Crown originally shared over Memorial Day weekend to keep food-borne illness from becoming an uninvited guest at your holiday cookout.

1. Clean your hands and surfaces often. Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils and countertops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food. Clean your grill before and after each use.

2. Separate raw food from ready-to-eat foods. Cross-contamination during preparation, grilling and serving food is a prime cause of food-borne illness. Wash plates, utensils, and cutting boards that held raw meat or poultry before using them again for cooked food (such as raw versus cooked hamburgers and hot dogs). When packing the cooler chest for an outing, wrap raw meats securely; avoid raw meat juices from coming in contact with ready-to-eat food.

3. Cook foods to safe temperatures. Food safety experts agree that food is safely cooked when it is heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill harmful bacteria that cause food-borne illness. The only way to know this is by using a food thermometer; you can’t judge doneness by color alone. Cook your burgers to an internal temperature of at least 160°F, poultry to 165°F. Defrost and marinate all foods in the refrigerator, and cook your meat completely at your picnic site – partial cooking of food ahead of time allows bacteria to survive and multiply to the point that subsequent cooking cannot destroy them.

4. Chill foods within a certain timeframe. Never let raw meat, poultry, eggs, cooked food or cut fresh fruits or vegetables sit at room temperature more than two hours before putting them in the refrigerator or freezer (one hour when the temperature is above 90°F). Food left out of refrigeration for more than 1 to 2 hours may not be safe to eat. If you have any doubts, throw it out.