Food, grill safety tips offered for summer cookout season

Monroe County Health Department Offers food safety tips for the summer.

"As the Memorial Day weekend approaches, the summer grilling season is upon us. The Monroe County Health Department wants to remind you that safe food handling is important in making your cookouts successful and safe for your guests," the health department said.

The department offers four steps to help reduce the threat of foodborne illness:

Clean: Make sure you start with clean surfaces and clean hands. Be sure that you and your guests wash your hands before preparing or handling food. Hands should be washed 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.

Separate: Raw meats and poultry should be prepared separately from veggies and cooked foods. When you chop meats and veggies, be sure to use separate cutting boards, or effectively clean them before preparing a different food. Juices from raw meats contain harmful bacteria that could contaminate raw veggies and already-cooked foods. As you take cooked food off the grill, be sure to place them on a clean plate or platter, not on the same dish that held them when they were raw. The juices left on the plate from the raw food can re-contaminate cooked foods.

Cook: Meat, poultry and seafood cooked on a grill may appear done on the outside, but still may not have reached a safe internal temperature to kill harmful bacteria. Use a food thermometer to make sure food is cooked safely. Steaks, roasts, chops, ribs and fish should be cooked to 145°F. Ground meats like hamburger should reach 155°F. Poultry and raw sausages must be cooked to at least 165°F. Fully cooked meats like hot dogs should be grilled to at least 135°F.

Keep food hot or cold: It’s important to keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Harmful microorganisms will start to grow on perishable food that has not been correctly held hot or cold. Hot food should be kept at 135°F or above in chafing dishes, slow cookers or warming trays, and cold food must be kept chilled at 41°F or below with ice packs or ice sources underneath. Be sure to keep all foods covered except while serving. Perishable food should never sit out for more than two hours. After that time, they need to be discarded. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers promptly. Any leftover foods must be reheated to an internal temperature of 165°F before serving to kill any harmful microorganisms.

For links to food safety websites, visit http://www.co.monroe.mi.us.

The National Fire Protection Association recommends safe grilling tips.

“Fire departments respond to an average of 10,600 home fires annually involving grills, hibachis or barbecues,” NFPA said. “This includes 4,900 structure fires and 5,700 outside or unclassified fires. These fires result in an annual average of 10 civilian deaths, 160 civilian injuries and $149 million in direct property damage.”

Leading causes of fire are failure to keep grills clean, the heat source located too close to combustible materials, leaving equipment unattended and leaks or breaks in fuel sources.

The NFPA offers these tips:

• Check propane grills’ gas tank for leaks

• Keep grills clean by removing grease and fat buildup from the grill and trays below the grill

• Place the grill well away from the home and deck railing and away from eaves and overhanging branches

• Open gas grill lids before lighting them

• Keep children and pets at least three feet away from the grilling area

• When using starter fluid for a charcoal grill, only use charcoal starter fluid; never add charcoal fluid or other flammable liquid to the fire

• When done, allow coals to cool completely before disposing of them in a metal container

• Never leave a grill unattended when in use

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Food, grill safety tips offered for summer cookout season