BARNSTABLE COUNTY REPORT
Ignoring Year-Round Rules Of Food Safety Sure Way To Ruin Your Summer Barbeque

By George R. Heufelder, MS, RS
Director, Barnstable County Department
 Health & Environment

Spring is here and soon many of us will crank up the old barbecue to cook a variety of delights. Before we do that, however, we should take a minute to brush up on safe food preparation and handling practices.

Hardly a week goes by when we don't hear about E. coli or some other organism wreaking havoc with the food supply. For some victims, it is merely a really inconvenient week of convalescence, but for others it can mean permanent health problems or death.

Remember however, for the most part, food preparation, handling and storage is the best defense against food-borne illness. That's because the majority of problems occur in the home by mishandling otherwise wholesome products, or by undercooking products that you are unaware have been contaminated. Although, in the latter case, these products often can be made harmless by thorough cleaning and/or proper cooking.

Safe practices begin at the shopping cart. Aside from the obvious tenet to buy from approved and reliable sources, take care how you store and transport the food home. Potentially hazardous foods, such as meat, fish, dairy products and certain sliced fruits should be placed under refrigeration or cooked as soon as possible after purchase. A two-hour stay in a warm automobile trunk or seat can give bacteria quite a jump start to grow to dangerous levels. Four hours almost guarantees problems.

When buying meat, make sure the juices don't drip on other food products. Raw juices often contain harmful bacteria. When storing in your refrigerator make sure the meat is in sealed plastic containers.

The best investment you can make to ensure proper food safety is a good set of thermometers. The "danger zone" for storing hot and cold potentially hazardous food is between 41° F and 140° F. Always keep one thermometer in your refrigerator to ensure that the temperature remains below 40° F.

For cooking meats, purchase a good thermometer that can be stuck into the product at various points. All thermometers are not the same. Some register the accurate temperature only after being immersed for considerable depth into the product, while others register the accurate temperature at the tip. Know what type of thermometer you have and use it properly. Remember, temperature is the single most important measure to control or kill harmful bacteria. Beef, lamb and veal steaks, roasts and chops should be brought to at least 145o F. Ground meats, pork and poultry should be brought to at least 165o F internally. Be particularly vigilant with ground meat products.

When preparing food, always remember that harmful bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen through cross contamination of cutting boards, utensils, and even washcloths. Run those washcloths through the hot cycle of the washing machine frequently, or rinse them thoroughly with a sanitizing solution. One teaspoon of bleach in a quart of water makes a good sanitizing solution for food contact surfaces and cloths.

After the party is over, repackage and refrigerate potentially hazardous foods properly. If the food has been out on display for more than two hours on those lazy summer afternoons, don't take the chance. I cannot tell you how many times health officials receive that call the day after Thanksgiving or other holidays regarding whether the turkey or other meat that was mistakenly left on the table for six hours is safe to eat. I know it seems wasteful, but all we can do is repeat the mantra "when in doubt, throw it out". There is nothing worse than following a holiday with closely spaced trips to the bathroom or worse.

When placing large volumes of food in a refrigerator, remember to place the food in shallow pans so that cold temperatures can be reached quickly. (Once, when violating that advice, I had an eight-quart pot of clam chowder actually explode in a refrigerator. I suspect that gas-forming bacteria actually erupted through the surface crust of the chowder rather violently.)

Summer on Cape Cod is made for gatherings of friends and outdoor feasts. To guarantee a happy ending, always take a few moments to review food safety. There are many resources on the Web that you can print and keep handy. The federal Food and Drug Administration has a gateway site at http://www.foodsafety.gov/.

The combination of common sense, good information and a set of thermometers will go a long way toward ensuring that your gatherings involving food are healthy ones. Enjoy the summer!