Grace Cottage Hospital’s Summer Safety Tips

Summer Food Safety
From The Grace Cottage Dietary Staff

• When packing the cooler, make sure to wrap raw meats securely to keep their juices from coming in contact with ready-to-eat foods.Put beverages in one cooler and food in another. While traveling, keep your cooler(s) in the air conditioned part of the car, not in the hot trunk. When at your destination, place in the shade or shelter, out of the sun, whenever possible.
• Wash plates, utensils, and cutting boards that held the raw meat or poultry before using again for cooked food. Cross-contamination during preparation, grilling and serving food is a prime cause of foodborne illness.
• Take a food thermometer along so that you can be sure that you are grilling meats thoroughly.
• Meat and poultry brown fast on the outside when grilled, so be sure that the inside is thoroughly cooked.Beef: 145°F for medium rare, 160°F for medium, 170°F for well done; Ground pork and ground beef: 160°F; Ground chicken and turkey: 165°F; chicken and turkey breasts: 170°F; Whole chicken, turkey or other poultry: 180° F; Fish: 145°F or until the flesh separates easily with a fork.Cook meat and poultry completely at the picnic site. Partial cooking of food ahead of time allows bacteria to survive and multiply to the point that subsequent cooking cannot destroy them.
  

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