How to prevent food poisoning when grilling

Barbecue is a quite interesting way for workmates or families outside activity. However. There are thousands of Americans becoming victims of food poisoning, which is often due to eating under-cooked meat, or infecting bacteria which normally exists in beef, meat and chicken. It is quite easily to get food poisoning when eating under-cooked meat as the meat is not cooked well without enough high temperature or time to kill the germs or bacteria. This article is to give some food safety tips for grilling meat.

1. Store meat and poultry in the refrigerator before you are ready to grill them. It is healthy to freeze any ground meat or poultry that you don’t cook within 24 hours.

2. Clean up your hands at least 30 seconds with soap before preparing food and after deal with raw meat.

3. It is of great importance to separate food. You should ensure raw meat separately from vegetables, fruits and other foods before grilling, which can avoid bacterial cross-contamination. And it necessary to use different chopping board when cutting raw meat and vegetables. After cutting food, you should use hot water and soap to wash the chopping board as well. And remember that use different dishes to serve raw food and cooked food.

                        

4. Cook meat and poultry through. Under-cooked meat is the most likely poison food. If you want to ensure all food are well cooked, you can insert a food thermometer into the thickest part of the meat and keep grilling it till it reaches the below temperatures:

Whole chicken or turkey: 165 F

Chicken or turkey breasts (boneless): 165 F

Pork chops, tenderloins, or roasts: 145 F for at least 4 minutes of resting time

Ground chicken or turkey: 165 F

Fish: 145 F

Ground pork and organ meats: 160 F

Hot dogs: 165 F or steaming hot

Beef roasts or steaks: Medium rare 145 F; medium 160 F; well done 170 F

Hamburgers, ground beef: 160 F

You can use a piece of grill mat to prevent food sticking to the grill and in case of food seared.

5. Cover the food that left after eating. It is a good habit to cover left food to prevent insects to eat your meal. If possible, you’d better put the left food in the refrigerator as soon as possible to prevent bacteria breeding.