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FEATURE SCRIPT – Safe Summer Grilling Advice from USDA
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INTRODUCTION: U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety officials and
partners have some tips for a successful barbecue season. The USDA's Patrick O'Leary has more.
Pat O'Leary, USDA (voice-over):
At Agriculture Department headquarters on The Mall in the nation's capital, it's a cook-out to celebrate the start of
the summer barbecue season. It's also a chance for USDA food safety experts and others to share advice for safe grilling.
Richard Raymond, MD, USDA Office of Food Safety: The heat of summer does allow bacteria to grow more
quickly and therefore we see an increase in foodborne illnesses every summer. Our message is to try to give four
tips to help prevent people from getting foodborne illnesses at their barbecues and at their picnics.
The four messages are: clean, separate, cook and chill.
Clean surfaces, wash your hands. Separate, don't cross-contaminate. Cook your meats to the proper temperatures, for
hamburger that's 160 degrees and for poultry that's 165 degrees. And use a thermometer to test if it's done, you cannot
tell by looking. And lastly, chill. Once you're done serving foods, put them back in a cooler, refrigerator, something
to keep them cold.
O'Leary (stand-up): In general, the experts say to refrigerate leftovers within two hours. But since
harmful bacteria grow well in warm weather, when the temperature tops ninety degrees, you should cut that time in half.
Raymond: In the summertime we call it the one hour rule. When the temperatures get up around ninety
degrees and higher, one hour is too long to have food sitting out. If you are having so much fun that you forgot to
put it into a cooler and you realize it's been sitting out for a couple of hours, throw it away.
O'Leary (voice-over): The experts say, "Whatever you bring to the barbecue, don't forget the basics."
Dr. Georges Benjamin, Exec. Dir., American Public Health Association: Clean, separate, cook, chill
is the name of the game. This is an important message all year round. But it's particularly important because of the
summer, you know, because some of the normal prompts we would have in terms of washing our hands and keeping things
clean are not as convenient outside and so we're likely to cut corners. So what we're telling people to do is: Don't
cut corners. We want to make sure people are safe this summer.
O'Leary (voice-over): In Washington, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I'm Pat O'Leary.
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Last Modified:
July 10, 2006 |
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