By April Reese
University of
Georgia

Georgia’s football season is in full swing, and football
teams draw
fans and foods to the stadium on game day. But without proper
concern for safety, the food can leave fans sick in the
stands.

Elizabeth Andress, an extension food safety specialist
with the
University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences,
warns people of the health risks of tailgating.

“Tailgate parties are a perfect opportunity for there to be
temperature abuse of foods,” Andress said. “People should pay
close attention to make sure cold foods are staying cold enough
and hot foods are heated to the right temperatures so people
don’t perish with food-borne illness.”

Cold foods should be cold

The cold foods shouldn’t be just cool. “People need to
make sure they’re packing really good-quality coolers with
plenty of ice or frozen gel packs,” Andress said. “All the food
in your cooler needs to stay at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or
below.”

It’s possible to keep food in the cold safety zone, she
said, if
you pack properly. “Thoroughly chill cold items before you put
them into the cooler,” she said.

Gel packs are good for coolers, she said, because they
warm up
very slowly once out of the freezer.

“Check the temperature of foods in the cooler often to
make sure
they’re cold enough,” she said. “Discard perishable foods that
have been in the temperature danger zone, from 40 to 140 degrees
Fahrenheit, for more than two hours,” Andress said.

Keep raw and read-to-eat separate

In safely packing coolers, keep raw foods separate from
ready-to-eat foods they can contaminate. Do this from the store
to the tailgate.

“This means keeping foods separate in the grocery cart,
refrigerator and cooler,” Andress said. “Pack raw foods below
cooked foods in the cooler with some kind of separation between
them.”

She suggests using one cooler for drinks and snacks and
another
for raw foods and using separate cutting boards, utensils and
plates for raw and cooked foods.

People often get sick, too, from not cooking hamburgers,
chicken,
or even hotdogs well enough, she said.

Chicken is a popular food for tailgating, and raw chicken
has
Salmonella bacteria on it that can easily be
transferred onto
other foods.

“Problems can arise when the bacteria transfers to foods
like
rolls or vegetables, because those foods may not even get
cooked,” Andress said.

Don’t use color as an indicator

A common misconception is that you can rely on colors to
tell how
done a piece of meat is.

“People … tend to go by whether juices run clear or the
inside
is no longer pink,” Andress said. “These aren’t good indicators
that important bacteria like E. coli 0157 are no longer
present.”

She recommends a better way to check foods on the
grill. “One of
the best investments you can make to prevent food-borne illness
is to invest in a thermometer,” Andress said. “Hamburgers should
be heated to at least 160 degrees F before eating them and
chicken to 180 degrees F.”

An important step in avoiding food-borne illnesses is to be
safely clean.

Wash hands frequently

“It’s hard to be clean at a tailgate party or picnic, but
it’s
important to wash hands before and after handling foods,” Andress
said. “Be sure to take something with you to be prepared for
cleaning up utensils or anywhere you are actually setting food
items.”

Andress said some of the most common food-borne illnesses
are
related to people passing diseases to each other due to unclean
hands.

“Staph poisoning is very common,” Andress said. “We all
have
Staphylococcus bacteria on us, and without properly
cleaning
hands and utensils, we can pass them from person to food. Once
deposited on food, Staph bacteria can multiply and produce toxins
if the food is in the temperature danger zone for too
long.”