Food Safety Tips

There are four basic rules to food safety:

Clean: wash hands, utensils and surfaces often
Separate: don’t cross contaminate different meats or meats with other food items
Cook: cook to proper temperatures
Chill: refrigerate promptly

Clean

• Always wash and disinfect hands before starting to cook, after touching meat of any kind, and especially prior to serving.
• Wash all utensils with hot, soapy water immediately after each use.
• Wash all counters, cutting boards and other cooking surfaces before, during and after cooking and serving food.
• Always clean the thermometer probe with hot soap and water after each use.

Separate

• Place raw meat packages in plastic bags and pack separately from canned drinks and ready to eat foods that might otherwise become contaminated.
• Use different dishes and utensils for raw foods and cooked foods.
• Do not reuse the marinade from raw meat or poultry on cooked food, unless it is boiled first to destroy and bacteria.

Cook

• Invest in a good food thermometer. They come in several styles, including instant-read digital thermometers, which are recommended for measuring the temperature of thin food, such as hamburger patties and boneless fowl. Ovenproof thermometers may be placed in food at the beginning of cooking and remain there throughout cooking.
• As a general rule, insert the thermometer into the thickest portion of the food. For whole birds, insert into the inner thigh near the breast, but not touching the bone
• Cook fowl until it reaches the internal temperature of 180 degrees F.
  Cook fish till it is opaque and flaky.
• Cook hamburgers until they are completely brown inside – a temperature of 160 degrees F.
• Beef, venison and lamb, should all reach a temperature of 160 degrees F.
• When reheating food, heat to at least 165 degrees F and stir occasionally to cook food evenly
• When carrying food to a picnic or campsite, keep it cold to minimize bacterial growth. If you are taking prepared food such as barbecued chicken, or venison and when reheating them on the grill, make sure to chill thoroughly if eating them less than 2 hours after they were made.
• Use a cooler with sufficient ice packs or ice to keep the food at 40*F.
• Pack food right from the refrigerator into the cooler just before you leave home
  
• When you are defrosting food, make sure to defrost in the refrigerator. Do not defrost food on the counter. Cook food as soon as you can once it’s thawed.
  

Chill

• As soon as food, especially meat, is bought or processed, it needs to be chilled immediately or frozen if not consumed within a day or two.
• Leftovers should be refrigerated or frozen immediately after the meal.

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Outdoor Cooking Safety Tips

• Make sure the cooking method you plan to use meets local restrictions in your area.
• If open pit fires are allowed, be sure to build fires in designated fire pits.If there are no designated pits, find an open area away from low hanging branches, dry vegetation, tents and children. Dig your pit 4 to 6 inches deep and surround it with rocks to enclose the flames.
• Make sure to have a pair of long oven mitts, water, and any cooking utensils that will be needed.
• If using a cooking stove, follow the manufacturer’s instructions closely.
• Never light a cooking stove in your tent, and never refuel a stove or lantern while it is lit.
• For lighting a charcoal grill, the safest fire starters are chemicals in a cake form or a charcoal electric starter.
• Never add fire starter after you have started your barbecue. The heat from the coals may ignite the stream of flammable liquid and burn back to the can, causing it to explode in your hand. This also applies to cooking oil spray.
• Make sure the barbecue grill is level and steady with water nearby.
• After cooking, douse the coals in water. Dispose of charcoal in a metal container with a tight fitting lid.
• Barbecue grills should never be brought inside the house, tent or recreational vehicle, because of the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Keep small children away from the barbecue.

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