Five summer barbecue food safety tips to avoid falling ill and ruining your cookout
Summertime is high season for food-borne illnesses and barbecues are one of the main culprits. Here are five common food-safety mistakes made when barbecuing and how to avoid them
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million Americans fall ill from food-borne illness each year, and summertime is high season.
While there are myriad causes for these illnesses throughout the food supply chain, improper food handling at home is the one over which we have the most control.
As you plan your next summer gathering, keep it truly healthy by taking note of these five common food-safety mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Basting with the marinade
A golden rule of food safety is not to let juices from raw meat, poultry or fish come in contact with ready-to-eat foods. Raw items can contain many different disease-causing bacteria, most of which are killed off through cooking.
If you baste with a used marinade, germs in it might not be cooked long enough, especially if you are basting when the food is nearly done. There are two ways to use a marinade safely as a basting liquid: reserve some in a separate container for basting when you initially prepare the marinade or, once you remove the raw food from a marinade, you can put it into a saucepan on the stove and bring it to boil.
