As seen on BCTV Noon News
BBQ SAFETY
Barbequing is a fantastic, quick
and simple way to cook foods in the warmer months. As long as you
don’t char your food it can be healthy too. However, it is easy to
get food poisoning if you don’t take care and avoid cross contamination.
Food poisoning is often taken for the 24 hour flu because it has the
same symptoms so beware! Beef and chicken are the most common sources
of food borne illness. Raw, these foods are not the best environment
for Salmonella and E.coli to grow because there are too many competing
organisms in there. However, undercooked, or cooked and re-contaminated,
the competition is killed and E.coli and Salmonella can flourish.
To prevent cross-contamination,
follow these precautions:
-
Be sure to cook the meat thoroughly.
-
Don’t pierce
meat to allow marinade to penetrate as this also allows the pathogens
to penetrate to parts of the meat that may not reach hot enough
temperatures.
-
Don’t use the
same basting brush for cooked and raw meats.
-
Don’t use the
marinade from raw food to baste cooked foods.
-
Wash your hands
thoroughly with soap and water after touching raw meats.
-
Don’t use the
same cloth to wipe up raw chicken juice as you do to clean the cutting
board for cutting foods that won’t be cooked.
-
Keep cold foods cold at 4 degrees
Celsius. Don’t leave food out at room temperature for more than
2 hours. At parties, serve half the potato salad or vegetable dip
and then replace it with a fresh bowl from the fridge 2 hours later.
-
Put your sponge or dishrag in
the dishwasher or wash in a dilute bleach solution on a daily basis.
Microwaving for one minute on high also works to kill organisms.
-
Use bleach to disinfect countertops
and cooking surfaces.
-
Discard cutting boards with
deep cuts and scrapes. Sanitize cutting boards after use.
-
Don’t save leftovers from picnics
for another day if they have been out of the fridge for more than
2 hours. Discard them.
-
Don’t rely on smell. Many toxins
produced in foods don’t smell but still make you ill.
-
Defrost foods
on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator in sealed containers or
wrap them in plastic and place them on rimmed trays or in bowls
to prevent drips from contaminating other foods.
-
Always clean
a thermometer after using it on one piece of meat, before inserting
it into another to be tested.
-
Have two cutting
boards- one exclusively for raw meat, fish, seafood and poultry
and another for produce to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
-
If you prepare
a marinade that you also want to use as a dipping sauce, remove
and reserve the amount for dipping before adding raw meat, poultry,
fish or seafood to the rest for marinating.
-
Never use
the same plate or tray for raw and cooked meats.
-
Keep ready-to-eat and cooked
foods separate from uncooked foods in the fridge or when packing
a cooler.
