Eat well this summer: Food safety tips offered

Nowthat summer has arrived, Oregonians are likely to do a lot more outdoor cookingand eating. But the potential for food-borne illness increases in July and August.

Proper food handling andpreparation is never more important as families flockto picnics, barbecues and camp-outs. The Oregon Department of Agriculture’sFood Safety Program is offering seasonal advice on how to enjoy a problem-freesummer of eating.

“Thenumber of food borne illness outbreaks typically goes up in the summer becausepeople are cooking outside, eating outside, and changing their habits a bit,”says ODA Food Safety Specialist SusanKendrick. “You might have a differentfamily member doing the cooking who normally doesn’t prepare meals the rest ofthe year. Everyone just needs to be more careful with food handling andpreparation.”

Whenthe cooking and eating takes place outdoors, people lose the convenience of asink with running water or a refrigerator to keep foods cold. Nonetheless, mostof the same rules for food handling,preparation, and storage apply for bothoutdoors and indoors.

OutbreaksofE. coliandsalmonellain raw produce in recent years should not deter peoplefrom enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables this summer.

“We’dlike to emphasize that you wash the produce when you get it home,” saysKendrick. “Even if it’s a cantaloupe– you aren’t going to eat the exterior rindbut you are going to slice into it. So it’s still a greatidea to wash thewhole cantaloupe before eating it.”

Melonsare grown on the ground where the rind can come into contact with animal wasteused as fertilizer. When melons are cut, the knife may transfer bacteria to theinside of the fruit.

Unlikemeats, there is usually no cooking step for fresh, ready-to-eat produce to heatand kill bacteria. However, the cook needs to be certain that raw meat isthoroughly cooked.

“It’sa good idea to thaw a product like hamburger in the refrigerator prior tocooking,” says Kendrick. “You want to make sure you don’t have a pocket insidethe hamburger that is still frozen and may takelonger to cook. The entireburger needs to be cooked evenly and thoroughly.”

Ideally,a thermometer should be used to make sure the proper cooking temperature of themeat on the grill is reached. But that isn’t always practical. At the veryleast, cutting into the meat, or close to the bonein the case of chicken, willensure there isn’t any pink inside. Cooking temperatures should reach at least165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Anytime raw meat and fresh produce are both part of a meal preparation,cross-contamination is always a possibility. When handling any raw meatproduct– either taking it to a barbecue or anotherpreparationarea– make sure any tongs, spatulas, scoops, and the platter carrying the meatare all exchanged with a fresh, clean utensil or platter to carry the cookedproduct back to the table.

Cutting boards used infood preparation are also apotential source of problems. Using the same board to cut up chicken and thento chop salad ingredients should be avoided. The raw products have organismsthat could produce illness ifspread to ready-to-eat products. Of course, agood cleaning and sanitizing of the cutting board after chopping up raw meatproducts will minimize the risk.

Hand=washingis not as practical in the summer, but it is just as critical as other times ofthe year. If it’s possible to track down a sink, especially after handling rawmeat, the risk of spreading bacteria to otherfoods and people can beminimized. While waterless hand sanitizers are available, nothing beats theold-fashioned method of using soap and running water to mechanically removebacteria from hands.

Foodneeds to be kept out of the temperature danger zone– which is 40 to 140 degreesFahrenheit– for as long as possible. Even before cooking, food transported to apicnic area or campsite needs to be kept incoolers filled with plenty of iceuntil it is time to prepare or consume the food. Keeping that cooler or icechest in the shade, if possible, might buy some additional time.

Remember thatfood products will warm upquickly when taken out of the cooler and set out onthe table. Bacteria begins to grow rapidly as the temperature warms up. Foodsthat need to be cooked should stay refrigerated or be prepared as soon aspossible.

Oncethe food is cooked, it’s important to tell everyone to come and get it.

“It’sreally a good idea if you don’t leave the food out for more than two to threehours,” says Kendrick. “If you are camping or on a picnic and using a cooler,it would be great to not have leftovers. Justthrowing left over food in thecooler can sometimes be a problem because it’s hard to bring the temperaturedown rapidly in a cooler. Again, we want to minimize the amount of time food isin the danger zone.”

Planninghelps. Accurately assessing how much food to bring on an outing is a great wayto avoid potential problems later. Another good idea is to offer foods that areshelf stable and don’t require preparationor refrigeration. Non-perishablefood items like potato chips, dried fruit rolls, and uncut fresh fruits andvegetables will hold up well during picnics and camping.

Ofcourse, the old expression “when in doubt, throw it out” is a good and easy oneto remember.

Foodrecalls and food borne pathogen outbreaks have at least produced a moreinformed public. That could help make the summer of 2016 much more safe.

“Peopleare definitely more aware of what they eat and more vigilant about preparingtheir food safely,” says Kendrick.

Mostsummer food safety recommendations are just common sense. As long as people arecareful about how food is handled, prepared, and stored, campouts, picnics, andbarbecues can be fun, safe, anddelicious.

VisitODA’s Food Safety web page at < http://go.usa.gov/3dpC3 >.