Burgers, Buns, and Soap

These are the ingredients for a safe picnic.
Chris Gorski, Editor

(Inside Science) -- For most people, summer picnics bring to mind hot dogs, hamburgers, and salads. But festive occasions outdoors make it easy to overlook safety issues that would never pass muster in home kitchens, raising the chance of unwanted guests crashing the party, namely bacteria and viruses.

Food safety experts recommend proper preparation as the primary way to protect against pathogens. Following a few simple guidelines can result in a safer, more enjoyable event.

Plan ahead -- picnic safety begins at home. If the venue has no safe running water, make sure to pack a bottle of soap and a container of warm water, or a soapy washcloth in a plastic bag, or at least a sanitizing gel (which kills bacteria, but not viruses).

"Water is the stealth ingredient," said Cathy Strohbehn, a certified food safety professional at Iowa State University in Ames. Water can contain contaminants itself, but without it people can't wash dishes, utensils, or themselves.

"Cross-contamination is usually a major factor in food-borne illness," said Patricia Kendall, a food safety specialist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. After touching raw meat, it's always a good idea to wash your hands before touching anything else, especially food that isn't going to be cooked.

Because running water makes clean-up easier, it's a good idea to do as much cooking and preparation at home as possible. If hamburgers are on the menu, form the patties in the kitchen instead of grill-side. Then put them on ice until it’s time to cook. If bringing fried chicken, cook it far ahead of time and refrigerate it until cold before trekking afield.

In fact, it's a good idea to keep all hot foods hot and cold foods cold as long as possible. Store cold foods in icy coolers or insulated thermal bags until they are served. Don't put cold drinks in the same cooler as meat and other food because people repeatedly opening the cooler to get drinks prevents the food from staying as cold as it should.

The general rule is that food is safe at room temperature for up to two hours -- but "if it's above 90 degrees Fahrenheit out, the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] doesn't recommend keeping food out for more than an hour," said Kendall.

Potato salads often get a bad rap, said Strohbehn, because commercially-bought mayonnaise tends to be acidic and protects against runaway bacterial growth.

Rare burgers are a no-no. A meat thermometer helps assure that a burger has reached the recommended internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't trust the color of the meat. "One of the issues with hamburger patties is that you can't tell necessarily by color when it's done," said Kendall. "Using a thermometer and putting it in sideways so that you get it far enough in is probably the best indicator that you've reached the temperature you need to."

Don't return cooked food to any plate used to carry raw meat to the grill. "Then you've got that contamination from the raw to the cooked product," said Strohbehn. The plate may still contain germs that have been reproducing while the burger sizzled on the grill.

With non-perishable food, it's important to keep it covered to keep flies and other disease-carrying pests away. It is also best not to put out the perishable food until everything is ready. When the grilled foods are ready, that's the time to put out the cold foods.

There's one more preparatory step -- wash your hands and encourage others to do so. The long handle of a spoon used to scoop up baked beans might be touched by dozens of people. If it falls into the food, whatever germs that were on the hands of the people who touched the spoon are now swimming through the food, reproducing like crazy. Hand washing minimizes the germs on people’s hands and on the utensils they touch.

And if you think an item has been sitting out too long, get rid of it. Trying to rescue food that might be all right can make you sick.

"If you do go beyond that safe holding time the best thing to do is to throw it out," said Kendall.

 

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Chris Gorski is the Senior Editor of Inside Science. Follow him on twitter at @c_gorski.