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Food Safety While Hiking, Camping & Boating
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Outdoor activities are
popular with Americans nationwide. The fresh air and exercise
revives the spirit and the mind. Hiking, camping, and boating
are good activities for active people and families, and in some
parts of the country you can enjoy the outdoors for 2 or 3 seasons.
In many cases, these activities last all day and involve preparing
at least one meal. If the food is not handled correctly, foodborne
illness can be an unwelcome souvenir.
"Keep Hot Foods Hot & Cold Foods Cold"
Whether you are in your kitchen or enjoying the great outdoors,
there are some food safety principles that remain constant.
The first is "Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold." Meat
and poultry products may contain bacteria that cause foodborne
illness. They must be cooked to destroy these bacteria and held
at temperatures that are either too hot or too cold for these
bacteria to grow.
Most bacteria do not grow rapidly at temperatures below 40 °F
or above 140 °F. The temperature range in between is known
as the "Danger Zone." Bacteria multiply rapidly at these temperatures
and can reach dangerous levels after 2 hours.
If you are traveling with cold foods, bring a cooler with a
cold source. If you are cooking, use a hot campfire or portable
stove. It is difficult to keep foods hot without a heat source
when traveling, so its best to cook foods before leaving
home, cool them, and transport them cold.
"Keep Everything Clean"
The second principle is that bacteria present on raw meat and
poultry products can be easily spread to other foods by juices
dripping from packages, hands, or utensils. This is called cross-contamination.
When transporting raw meat or poultry, double wrap or place
the packages in plastic bags to prevent juices from the raw
product from dripping on other foods. Always wash your hands
before and after handling food, and dont use the same
platter and utensils for raw and cooked meat and poultry. Soap
and water are essential to cleanliness, so if you are going
somewhere that will not have running water, bring it with you.
Even disposable wipes will do.
Food Safety While Hiking & Camping
Sometimes you just have to get out and walk around in the solitude
and beauty of our country. You may want to hike for just a few
hours, or you may want to camp for a few days. One meal and
some snacks are all thats needed for a short hike. Planning
meals for a longer hike requires more thought. You have to choose
foods that are light enough to carry in a backpack and that
can be transported safely.
Hot or Cold?
The first principle is to keep foods either hot or cold. Since
it is difficult to keep foods hot without a heat source (although
the new insulated casserole dishes will keep things hot for
an hour or so), it is best to transport chilled foods. Refrigerate
or freeze the food overnight. For a cold source, bring frozen
gel-packs or freeze some box drinks. The drinks will thaw as
you hike and keep your meal cold at the same time. What foods
to bring? For a day hike, just about anything will do as long
as you can fit it in your backpack and keep it cold —
sandwiches, fried chicken, bread and cheese, and even salads
— or choose non-perishable foods.
Clean
The second principle is to keep everything clean, so remember
to bring disposable wipes if you are taking a day trip. (Water
is too heavy to bring enough for cleaning dishes!)
Safe Drinking Water
It is not a good idea to depend on fresh water from a lake or
stream for drinking, no matter how clean it appears. Some pathogens
thrive in remote mountain lakes or streams and there is no way
to know what might have fallen into the water upstream. Bring
bottled or tap water for drinking. Always start out with a full
water bottle, and replenish your supply from tested public systems
when possible. On long trips you can find water in streams,
lakes, and springs, but be sure to purify any water from the
wild, no matter how clean it appears.
The surest way to make water safe is to boil it. Boiling will
kill microorganisms. First, bring water to a rolling boil, and
then continue boiling for 1 minute. Before heating, muddy water
should be allowed to stand for a while to allow the silt to
settle to the bottom. Dip the clear water off the top and boil.
At higher elevations, where the boiling point of water is lower,
boil for several minutes.
As an alternative to boiling water, you can also use water purification
tablets and water filters. The purification tablets —
which contain iodine, halazone, or chlorine — kill most
waterborne bacteria, viruses, and some (but not all) parasites.
Because some parasites — such as Cryptosporidium parvum,
Giardia lamblia, and larger bacteria — are not
killed by purification tablets, you must also use a water filter.
These water filtering devices must be 1 micron absolute or smaller.
Over time purification tablets lose their potency, so keep your
supply fresh. Water sanitizing tablets for washing dishes can
also be purchased (just dont confuse the two). Water purification
tablets, filters, and sanitizing tablets can be purchased at
camping supply stores.
What Foods to Bring?
If you are backpacking for more than a day, the food situation
gets a little more complicated. You can still bring cold foods
for the first day, but youll have to pack shelf-stable
items for the next day. Canned goods are safe, but heavy, so
plan your menu carefully. Advances in food technology have produced
relatively lightweight staples that dont need refrigeration
or careful packaging. For example:
- peanut butter in plastic jars;
- concentrated juice boxes;
- canned tuna, ham, chicken, and beef;.
- dried noodles and soups;
- beef jerky and other dried meats;
- dehydrated foods;
- dried fruits and nuts; and
- powdered milk and fruit drinks.
Powdered mixes for biscuits or pancakes are easy to carry and
prepare, as is dried pasta. There are plenty of powdered sauce
mixes that can be used over pasta, but check the required ingredient
list. Carry items like dried pasta, rice, and baking mixes in
plastic bags and take only the amount youll need.
Cooking at Camp
After you have decided on a menu, you need to plan how you will
prepare the food. Youll want to take as few pots as possible
(theyre heavy!). Camping supply stores sell lightweight
cooking gear that nest together, but you can also use aluminum
foil wrap and pans for cooking.
Youll need to decide in advance how you will cook. Will
you bring along a portable stove, or will you build a campfire?
Many camping areas prohibit campfires, so check first or assume
you will have to take a stove. Make sure to bring any equipment
you will need. If you are bringing a camp stove, practice putting
it together and lighting it before you pack. If you build a
campfire, carefully extinguish the fire and dispose of the ashes
before breaking camp. Likewise, leftover food should be burned,
not dumped. Lastly, be sure to pack garbage bags to dispose
of any other trash, and carry it out with you.
Use a Food Thermometer
Another important piece of camping equipment is a food thermometer.
If you are cooking meat or poultry on a portable stove or over
a fire, youll need a way to determine when it is done
and safe to eat. Color is not a reliable indicator of doneness,
and it can be especially tricky to tell the color of a food
if you are cooking in a wooded area in the evening.
When cooking hamburger patties on a grill or portable stove,
use a digital thermometer to measure the temperature. Digital
thermometers register the temperature in the very tip of the
probe, so the safety of thin foods — such as hamburger patties
and boneless chicken breasts — as well as thicker foods can
be determined. A dial thermometer determines the temperature
of a food by averaging the temperature along the stem and, therefore,
should be inserted 2 to 2 ½ inches into the food. If
the food is thin, the probe must be inserted sideways into the
food.
It is critical to use a food thermometer when cooking hamburgers.
Ground beef may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7,
a particularly dangerous strain of bacteria. Illnesses have
occurred even when ground beef patties were cooked until there
was no visible pink. The only way to insure that ground beef
patties are safely cooked is to use a food thermometer, and
cook the patty until it reaches 160 °F.
Cook all meat and poultry to safe minimum internal temperatures:
- Beef, veal, and lamb steaks, roasts, and chops may be cooked to 145 °F.
- All cuts of pork to 160 °F.
- Ground beef, veal and lamb to 160 °F.
- All poultry should reach 165 °F.
Heat hot dogs and any leftover food to 165 °F. Be sure to
clean the thermometer between uses.
Keeping Cold
If you are "car camping" (driving to your site), you dont
have quite as many restrictions. First, you will have the luxury
of bringing a cooler. What kind of cooler? Foam chests are lightweight,
low cost, and have good "cold retention" power. But they are
fragile and may not last through numerous outings. Plastic,
fiberglass, or steel coolers are more durable and can take a
lot of outdoor wear. They also have excellent "cold retention"
power, but, once filled, larger models may weigh 30 or 40 pounds.
To keep foods cold, youll need a cold source. A block
of ice keeps longer than ice cubes. Before leaving home, freeze
clean, empty milk cartons filled with water to make blocks of
ice, or use frozen gel-packs. Fill the cooler with cold or frozen
foods. Pack foods in reverse order. First foods packed should
be the last foods used. (There is one exception: pack raw meat
or poultry below ready-to-eat foods to prevent raw meat or poultry
juices from dripping on the other foods.) Take foods in the
smallest quantity needed (e.g., a small jar of mayonnaise).
At the campsite, insulate the cooler with a blanket, tarp, or
poncho. When the camping trip is over, discard all perishable
foods if there is no longer ice in the cooler or if the gel-pack
is no longer frozen.
Cleanup
Whether taking a hike or camping at an established site, if
you will be washing dishes or cookware, there are some rules
to follow. Camping supply stores sell biodegradable camping
soap in liquid and solid forms. But use it sparingly, and keep
it out of rivers, lakes, streams, and springs, as it will pollute.
If you use soap to clean your pots, wash the pots at the campsite,
not at the waters edge. Dump dirty water on dry ground,
well away from fresh water. Some wilderness campers use baking
soda to wash their utensils. Pack disposable wipes for hands
and quick cleanups.
Food Safety While Boating
Keeping food safe for a day on the boat may not be quite as
challenging as for a hike, but when you are out on the water,
the direct sunlight can be an even bigger food safety problem.
Remember the "Danger Zone"? It is true that bacteria multiply
rapidly at warm temperatures, and food can become unsafe if
held in the "Danger Zone" for over 2 hours. Above 90 °F,
food can become dangerous after only 1 hour. In direct sunlight,
temperatures can climb even higher than that. So bring along
plenty of ice, and keep the cooler shaded or covered with a
blanket.
Keep Your Cooler Cool
A cooler for perishable food is essential. It is important to
keep it closed, out of the sun, and covered, if possible, for
further insulation. Better yet, bring two coolers: one for drinks
and snacks, and another for more perishable food. The drink
cooler will be opened and closed a lot, which lets hot air in
and causes the ice to melt faster. Pack your coolers with several
inches of ice, blocks of ice, or frozen gel-packs. Store food
in watertight containers to prevent contact with melting ice
water.
Keep Cold Foods Cold
Perishable foods, like luncheon meats, cooked chicken (Yes,
that includes fried chicken!), and potato or pasta salads, should
be kept in the cooler. Remember the rule: hot foods hot, cold
foods cold? And the 2-hour rule: no food should be in the "Danger
Zone" for more than 2 hours? Well, unless you plan to eat that
bucket of fried chicken within 2 hours of purchase, it needs
to be kept in the cooler. For optimum safety, consider buying
it the night before, refrigerating it in a shallow container
(not the bucket), and then packing it cold in the cooler.
Of course, some foods dont need to be stored in the cooler:
whole fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, trail mix, canned meat spreads,
and peanut butter and jelly. (However, once canned foods are
opened, put them in the cooler.)
If you dont have an insulated cooler, try freezing sandwiches
for your outing. Use coarse-textured breads that dont
get soggy when thawed. Take the mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato
with you to add at mealtime. In a pinch, a heavy cardboard box
lined with plastic bags and packed with frozen gel packs or
ice will keep things cold until lunchtime. Freeze water in milk
cartons for your cold source.
Seafood
If you are planning to fish, check with your fish and game agency
or state health department to see where you can fish safely,
then follow these guidelines:
Finfish:
- Scale, gut, and clean fish as soon as theyre caught.
- Live fish can be kept on stringers or in live wells, as
long as they have enough water and enough room to move and
breathe.
- Wrap fish, both whole and cleaned, in water-tight plastic
and store on ice.
- Keep 3 to 4 inches of ice on the bottom of the cooler.
Alternate layers of fish and ice.
- Store the cooler out of the sun and cover with a blanket.
- Once home, eat fresh fish within 1 to 2 days or freeze
them. For top quality, use frozen fish within 3 to 6 months.
Shellfish:
- Crabs, lobsters, and other shellfish must be kept alive
until cooked.
- Store in live wells or out of water in a bushel or laundry
basket under wet burlap or seaweed.
- Crabs and lobsters are best eaten the day theyre
caught.
- Live oysters should be cooked within 7 to 10 days.
- Live mussels and clams should be cooked within 4 to 5
days.
- Eating raw shellfish is extremely dangerous. People with
liver disorders or weakened immune systems are especially
at risk.
Cleanup
Cleanup on the boat is similar to cleanup in the wild. Bring
disposable wipes for handwashing, and bag up all your trash
to dispose of when you return to shore.
General Rules for Outdoor Food Safety
Plan ahead: decide what you are going to eat and how you are
going to cook it; then plan what equipment you will need.
- Pack safely: use a cooler if car-camping or boating, or
pack foods in the frozen state with a cold source if hiking
or backpacking.
- Keep raw foods separate from other foods.
- Never bring meat or poultry products without a cold source to keep them safe.
- Bring disposable wipes or biodegradable soap for hand-
and dishwashing.
- Plan on carrying bottled water for drinking. Otherwise,
boil water or use water purification tablets.
- Do not leave trash in the wild or throw it off your boat.
- If using a cooler, leftover food is safe only if the cooler
still has ice in it. Otherwise, discard leftover food.
- Whether in the wild or on the high seas, protect yourself
and your family by washing your hands before and after handling
food.
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Last Modified:
May 10, 2007 |
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