The age-old Memorial Day question is which comes first, the
chicken or the ribs on the
backyard barbecue grill?
The choice of chicken, ribs, burgers or steaks isn’t the most
important thing in your
backyard cookout. Not the way Judy Harrison, a food safety
expert with the University
of Georgia Extension Service, sees it.
“Put safety first,” Harrison said. “Safe food handling is always
important. But during
the summer grilling season, we need to be even more aware of
food handling
practices.”
In the backyard or at a picnic site, people “may not always be
as good at hand-washing
and personal hygiene as they are in the kitchen,” she said.
But keeping hands, dishes and utensils clean is just as
important when grilling. Outdoor
chefs aren’t the only ones to thrive on toasty days. The
bacteria that cause food-borne
illnesses flourish, too.
“Nothing can spoil summer fun like a case of food-borne
illness,” Harrison said.
Symptoms can range from diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain and
fever to long-term
health problems such as arthritic conditions, heart
complications and central nervous
system or kidney disorders. Some cases can kill.
Anyone can get sick from the backyard grill or whenever food is
mishandled, Harrison
said. Infants, young children, the elderly and pregnant women
are especially
susceptible to complications of food-borne illness. So are
people whose immune
systems are weakened by AIDS, liver disease or cancer
treatment.
“Fortunately, food-borne illness is preventable,” Harrison said.
You just have to pay
attention to food safety rules.
Start with clean hands, utensils, dishes and work surfaces. “If
you’re grilling away
from home, take some disposable hand wipes along,” she said.
Keep any meats refrigerated or in a cooler until the grill is
hot, Harrison said. Marinate
raw meat, fish and poultry in a glass dish in the refrigerator –
not on the counter.
Once you put it on the grill, cook meat and poultry
thoroughly. “It’s best to use a meat
thermometer to check for doneness,” she said.
Cook large cuts of beef like roasts to an internal temperature
of at least 145 degrees
Fahrenheit for medium rare, 160 for medium and 170 for well
done. “Be aware that
meat cooked to 145 degrees still carries some bacterial risk,”
she said. Cook whole
poultry to 180 degrees.
Whatever you do, don’t undercook hamburgers. “To be sure you
destroy bacteria, cook
meat patties to at least 160 degrees and ground poultry to 165
degrees,” Harrison said.
“No pink color should remain in the meat. The juices should run
clear, with no
evidence of blood.”
Some outdoor chefs like to speed grilling time by partially
precooking meat or poultry.
That’s OK if the food goes right from the microwave or range to
the grill, she said. But
interrupted cooking is risky business.
When it’s done, never put grilled food back on the dish that
held the raw meat or
poultry. “If you put meat or poultry back onto plates with raw
juices,” she said, “you
can put bacteria right back on the foods you just cooked.”
Grilled food never tastes better than when it’s hot, right off
the grill. It’s never safer,
either.
“As with any food, don’t eat grilled foods that have been left
at room temperature for
more than two hours,” Harrison said. “If the food is outside on
a hot day (85 or
warmer) one hour is a safer rule.”
Put properly handled leftovers promptly in the refrigerator or
cooler. “Divide larger
quantities into small, shallow containers so they can cool
quickly,” she said.
If you’re picnicking and plan to return home within four or five
hours, keep perishable
leftovers on ice until you get there. But throw out any
perishable food that was left out
for more than an hour on a hot day.
