The following safe food handling steps are the key to making your cookout safe and healthy.

 

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"Barbecuing is a great way to celebrate, and it's important to take a few seconds to measure your food temperature to help protect your family and friends this summer," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Make a food thermometer your most important grilling tool."

USDA has four basic steps to help you Be Food Safe and declare independence from foodborne illness any time of year:

1. Clean: First things first – start with clean surfaces and clean hands. You and your guests should wash your hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before and after handling food. Equally important are the surfaces that come in contact with raw and cooked foods – make sure they are clean before you start and are washed frequently.

2. Separate: Raw meats and poultry should be prepared separately from produce and cooked foods. Use separate cutting boards when chopping raw meats and produce, as juices from raw meats may contain harmful bacteria that can cross-contaminate ready-to-eat foods.

3. Cook: Your food thermometer is the most important tool that will tell you if your food is thoroughly cooked, as color is not a reliable indicator of doneness. The safe minimum internal temperature to kill any harmful bacteria in steaks, roasts, chops and fish is 145°F, while ground beef should reach 160°F. Take extra care with frozen hamburgers as these take longer to reach a safe internal temperature throughout the patties. It is important to measure the temperature in several areas of your burgers. All poultry and fully cooked meats like hot dogs should be grilled to 165°F or until steaming hot.

4. Chill: Perishable food should never sit out for more than two hours. If the temperature is above 90°F – which is common at summer picnics – perishable foods shouldn't sit out more than one hour. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers promptly, and discard any food that has been out too long.

 

USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) offers important information about how to prevent foodborne illness throughout the year using a variety of tools:

 

FSIS Twitter feed: twitter.com/usdafoodsafety.

 

FSIS will release a podcast in English and Spanish on summer grilling. Access the podcasts at www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events.

FSIS will release a Video News Release on summer grilling that includes a demonstration of how to properly check if your burgers are cooked to a safe internal temperature. Access the video news release at www.fsis.usda.gov/news_&_events/video_releases/index.asp, or on FSIS' YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/USDAFoodSafety. Also visit the Meat and Poultry Hotline.

Ask the FSIS virtual representative "Ask Karen", your food safety questions, available 24 hours a day at www.AskKaren.gov. You can also "Chat live" with Karen between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm EDT, Monday through Friday.

The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages are available 24 hours a day. Podcasts and SignFSIS video-casts in American Sign Language featuring text-captioning are available online at www.fsis.usda.gov/news_&_events/multimedia.

Links to all of FSIS's resources for shopping, preparing, cooking, and storing food for gatherings in the summer heat are available at www.fsis.usda.gov.

 

About USDA

In 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln founded the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), he called it the "people's Department." In Lincoln's day, 58 percent of the people were farmers who needed good seeds and information to grow their crops. Today, USDA continues Lincoln's legacy by serving all Americans. Among other responsibilities, USDA is responsible for the safety of meat, poultry and egg products. It is a research leader in everything from human nutrition to new crop technologies that allow us to grow more food and fiber using less water and pesticides.