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4 Simple Tips for BBQ Food Safety
Last Updated: Oct. 4, 2018
In This Article: Separate Store Serve Sanitize
Help keep foodborne illness at bay by following the big S’s of food safety.
Separate
Make sure to separate raw meat from everything else throughout the entire process. Keep it separated in your grocery cart and in your shopping bags. Separate meat and vegetables, and raw and cooked foods during the preparation process by using different cutting boards, utensils, and platters. When cooking, never baste with the marinade the meat sat in while it was raw. Make a separate marinade just for basting.
Store
Never leave raw meat out at room temperature for more than two hours. You can store meat you plan on cooking soon in the refrigerator at a nice low temperature of 40° or below. Plan to use ground meat and poultry within two days, and beef, pork, veal, and lamb steaks, chops and roasts within five days. Freeze everything else. Once food is done cooking, don’t let it sit out for more than an hour.
Serve
Meat is safe to serve when it has reached these internal temperatures:
- 145° – Steaks, Pork Chops, Shrimp, Salmon
- 160° – Ground Beef
- 165° – Poultry Breasts, Poultry Legs, Sausages, Turkey Burgers, Turkey Breasts
Sanitize
From preparation to cooking to consuming, remember to wash your hands before you handle any food. (And then wash your hands again, just to be sure.) Throw a pack of Handi Wipes or a bottle of hand sanitizer in your purse if you’re heading somewhere like a park or pool where the bathroom isn’t so easily accessible.
Stay safe and remember to separate raw meat, store food in the refrigerator or on ice, serve meat at the right temperature, and sanitize your hands as much as possible.