BBQ Food Safety Tips

The sun is finally shining, temperatures are set to reach the mid 20’s and the allure of eating outdoors is enticing us all to dust off our barbeques and get cooking!

I have developed a short checklist to ensure that the food you serve is safe, and free from harmful bacteria which could potentially make friends and family sick.

1. Wash your hands

Wash your hands with hot water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.

2. Separate Raw and Ready to Eat/Cooked Foods

Ensure that raw food is kept refrigerated and away from ready to eat/cooked foods at all times. Food being marinated should also be kept in the fridge and covered.

Ready to eat foods (such as salads, vegetables, sauces) and cooked foods should never come into contact with raw food as this causes harmful bacteria to contaminate the cooked food.

For this reason we recommend the lower shelves of the fridge for raw meat storage, and the upper shelves for the storage of cooked or ready to eat foods.

Always ensure that you use different chopping boards/utensils for raw and cooked foods, and always wash your hands after handling raw food.

3. Cook food thoroughly

Harmful bacteria, such as E-Coli and Salmonella, cause food poisoning and these harmful bacteria are killed by cooking. This is why it is vital to cook food thoroughly to ensure that food is safe to eat.

Always check whether meat is cooked by taking a fork and a sharp knife and slice into the thickest part of the meat. The colour of the meat in the center should not have any pink colouring or it needs to cook longer.

Burgers should always be cooked thoroughly and never be served pink.

Alternatively food thermometers can be purchased in most supermarkets and will easily tell whether meat is cooked by probing the meat to ensure a minimum temperature of 75 degrees Celsius. They are a really handy tool to have in your kitchen too!

4. Serve food immediately after cooking

Do not let cooked food sit at room temperature as this allows harmful bacteria to grow. Once food is cooked, serve immediately.

Alternatively you should cool quickly, refrigerate and consume with 2 days.

5. Always keep food covered

Always keep food covered to ensure that flies are not contaminating your food.

I hope that you have found this short checklist useful. Please do not hesitate to contact our offices using the form below or telephone 021 4355917, if you require any additional information.

Regards,

Mairead

Tags: Food Safety, BBQ