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How to practice food safety for summer cookouts

Follow food safety practices for every cookout

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By Aaron Epple, Contributing Writer Updated 7:13 PM Thursday, July 7, 2011

Summer grilling season is officially under way, but there are other worries to consider besides whether you’ve packed enough burgers, steaks and beer of choice.

“The (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) tells us that one in six people, or 48 million, get sick every year from food-borne illness,” said Bill Wharton, spokesman for Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County. “128,000 people are hospitalized yearly, and there are 3,000 annual deaths.”

Among the most common bacteria are salmonella and E. coli, and, Wharton said, poisoning often occurs due to common, yet easily preventable summer cookout practices.

Rule 1: Eat right away or refrigerate

“A lot of people get sick in the summer months, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it,” he said. “Some people will prepare food and then think they can let it sit there all afternoon. When you cook food, you need to eat it right away or refrigerate it. If you let it sit out in the summer heat, that’s where bacteria grows best. (In terms of food temperature), the danger zone is anywhere between 40 degrees and 140 degrees, with body temperature being (the most optimum) for bacteria to grow.”

Rule 2: Cook to proper temperature

In addition to letting food sit in the sun, another common cause of food-borne illness is not cooking the food thoroughly enough in the first place. Ground poultry products should reach temperatures of 165 degrees, while ground beef should come in at least 160 degrees, with pork, steak and veal products around 145 degrees, Wharton said.

“It’s easy to (lose control) of bacteria growth when you get away from your normal cooking routine at home, because food is in the danger zone a lot longer outside in the summer heat,” he said. “So it’s best if you have a meat thermometer. But if you don’t, look at the juices. They should always run clear. If they’re still pink, it’s not cooked enough. With all the E. coli cases we’ve had lately, it’s a lot more dangerous to eat raw meat nowadays. Cooking at the proper temperatures also kills salmonella.”

Rule 3: Preheat properly

Carrie Yeager, environmental health programs coordinator for the Warren County Combined Health District, said it’s equally important to follow certain practices immediately before and after cooking. These include, if you have a charcoal grill, preheating the coals for 20-30 minutes or until the coals are lightly coated with ash, or if you have a gas grill, to fire it up and let it get warm for a few minutes.

“(You want to preheat) because you don’t want to take an extended time to cook things,” she said. “Especially if you’re reheating something. The more rapidly you cook, the less chance a microorganism has to grow.”

Rule 4: Be sanitary

“Be sure to burn and scrape things off the grill when you’re done,” Yeager said. “If you leave the juices, microorganisms can grow there as well.”

Yeager further cautioned that once you do lift the food from the grill, it’s important not to put it back on the same plate that it sat on in its raw state.

“You can get E. coli from beef and salmonella from chicken, and they’re usually found on the raw product,” she said. “Proper cooking kills those things, but if you put it back on the same plate, you’ve just replaced what you just killed.”

Rule 5: Keep cool if you can’t refrigerate right away

Those who do not have immediate access to a refrigerator but want to refrigerate their food for later should keep the food in a cooler fully packed with ice, a key point since the tendency is to pack the cooler at the beginning of the outing and let it slowly deplete over the weekend. Failing to keep the cooler packed, according to Wharton and Yeager, means the temperature will rise above the 40-degree threshold and create an environment for bacteria to thrive.

Other rules

Other recommendations include: always wash the exteriors of fruits and vegetables, wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling food, and don’t put any sauces or juices that you used to marinate the raw food back onto it once it has been cooked.

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