Is your weekend barbecue or picnic safe?
This holiday weekend is sort of the last big hurrah for summer fun. So today, six state agencies got together to drive home the need to watch what we do with food!
Science Specialist Ed Yeates was there.
Keep foods hot or cold. Anything in between is called the danger zone!
That's the advice from state agencies and food coalitions which got together Thursday for a pre-holiday demo.
They emphasize again, much of the food borne contamination which makes us sick is getting tougher by the day.
Becky Shreeve of the Utah Department of Agriculture says, "We're seeing a change in the pathogens and actually the toxicity of the pathogens. So, ecoli 0157 is very deadly. We're seeing pathogens which are resistant to antibiotics." "
Between the time you pull food from your cooler at 40 degrees or cook it at 140 degrees, that's the two hour danger zone. Take food in a crock pot, for example.
Becky Low of the Utah Dairy Council advises, "Give that a stir in order to measure the temperature. Once it has dropped below that 140, you have a two hour limit. Either use it up, get it refrigerated, or throw it out."
On the grill, cook meats thoroughly.
"When you're doing ground beef or ground meat, you want to make sure it's cooked to 160 degrees or higher," according to Jacob Schmidt of the Utah Beef Council. "When you're cooking chicken, you need to make sure it's 180 degrees or higher."
Non-ground meat steaks should be cooked to 145 degrees.
All the agencies involved in Thursday's demonstrations are recommending you throw out your old, conventional cooking thermometers, and buy a digital thermometer for cooking.
They need only be inserted into meats at the tip.
Use separate plates and tongs for raw and cooked foods, and be careful of melting water in coolers.
USU food safety specialist, Charlotte Brennand, says, "If you have a watermelon, after you have cut into it, you need to make sure that it's not in contact with the dirty water. So I've got it bagged, just simply slipped it in a plastic bag to make a barrier."
You can buy a little extra time by using simple insulating techniques like a blanket to keep cold foods cool.
If you refrigerate left-overs within that two hour window, the coalition advises using thin-walled plastic containers, which cool down faster.
Aug. 29, 2002
