Tips & Tricks: Food Safety

I know that you come to my blog for the recipes. But today I'm going to talk about food safety. This is a topic that is so critically important, yet most of us never received this kind of information when we were in school. According to the CDC, an estimated 48 million people in the US experience foodborne illness (aka food poisoning) each year.

I'm going to debunk some of the myths, discuss causes of foodborne illness, and suggest ways to prevent it. There are three main categories of food safety that I'll talk about today: cross-contamination, food temperature, and food storage.

Cross-Contamination

As the name suggests, cross-contamination is the result of harmful organisms being transferred from one food source to another. In the home, this commonly happens when a raw food, such as vegetables, comes into contact with raw meat, poultry, or seafood. This may seem obvious; don't let your lettuce touch raw chicken, right? But often times it's more subtle than that. I'll give an illustration:

You're hosting a backyard barbecue to celebrate your new promotion at work. You bring out a platter of raw chicken to the grill. You cook the chicken thoroughly; there's no more pink in the center. But in all of the excitement, you place the cooked chicken back on the same platter without even thinking about it. Your guests cut open their chicken, see that it's cooked properly, and dig in. Your guests go home and over the next three days, they all develop fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. They all have salmonella. But how? The chicken was completely cooked. By using the same platter for the raw chicken as the cooked chicken, the salmonella was able to infect the cooked chicken, even though it was cooked thoroughly according to USDA recommendations.

What can you do to prevent cross-contamination?

1. Wash your hands thoroughly every time after touching raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs. Tip: If you're cooking at a grill and hand washing is not convenient, you can use antibacterial hand wipes such as Wet Ones to clean your hands after handling raw food.
2. Wash all cutting surfaces, including cutting boards, knives, and counter tops after cutting raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs.
3. Do not reuse marinades. If you soak meat, poultry, or fish in a marinade, dump it out after use; do not reuse it for vegetables, or other raw foods, or for basting the meat while cooking. Use fresh marinade. You can also avoid this cross-contamination by marinating the vegetables first, then marinate the meat.
4. Do not reuse batters. If you're breading or battering meat, poultry, or fish, dump it out after use; do not reuse it for vegetables or other raw foods. This can also be avoided by breading or battering the vegetables first, then bread or batter the meat.
5. Use a clean spatula and platter every time for cooked meat, poultry, or fish. Never reuse a spatula or platter that has previously come in contact with raw meat, poultry, or fish without washing it first.

Food Temperatures

When we talk about food temperatures, there are two questions we need to ask:

1) What temperature should food be stored at?

There is a temperature range known as the "danger zone." That range is 40° F to 140° F. This means that foods should be stored below 40° F or cooked to temperatures above 140° F. When food is left at a temperature within the danger zone, this allows harmful bacteria to grow to dangerous levels.

When storing left-overs, cool them quickly and refrigerate within two hours of being cooked. When marinating meat or poultry, do not leave them out at room temperature for longer than two hours. (I've been to way too many cookouts where I saw raw meat sitting out at room temperature for hours and hours and hours. Definitely don't eat that!). When marinating fish, keep it in the refrigerator until it is ready to be cooked.

One thing to take note of here is that there is a certain window of time that is considered safe. That means that you don't have to worry if your steak has been sitting out for 30 minutes before being cooked. In fact, it's actually recommended that you let a steak sit at room temperature for a few minutes before cooking. That way it stays nice and juicy. So don't let this scare you. Just be aware of the important times and temperatures.

2) What internal temperature should food be cooked to?

This one is actually a tough one to answer. The answer depends on the food that you're cooking. Based on the danger zone, we know the internal temperature has to be at least 140° F, but certain foods should be cooked to higher temperatures. Here's a quick guide:

Ground Beef                     165 F

Steak - Rare                      135 F

Steak - Medium Rare    140 F

Steak - Medium               155 F

Steak - Well Done           165 F

Poultry                               165 F

Pork & Ham                      145 F

Left-overs                         165 F

You may be asking, "how would I even know the internal temperature of my food?!" You can find an instant read thermometer on the cheap almost anywhere. Even Walmart has them in the kitchen utensils section. You just insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat.

Storing Left-overs

Now that you know what temperature you should cook and store food at, the burning question may be how long to store the food for. Another common error people make is storing food for too long and letting it spoil. Click here for a simple guide from the FDA.