Check Your Steps: Cook to Keep Your Family Safer from Food Poisoning
While federal food safety agencies work hard every day to keep food safe before it gets to the consumer, the risk of foodborne illness has not been eliminated. One in six Americans will get food poisoning this year—that’s 48 million people. The USDA Meat & Poultry Hotline feels that it is important to give you information that can help prevent food poisoning when preparing meals at home.
Four simple behaviors—Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill—are the focus of the new Food Safe Families campaign and can help you keep your family safe when preparing, serving and storing food. Have you seen our ad with a pig in a sauna, reminding Americans of the need to cook meat to the right temperature? We want consumers to understand that food poisoning can happen, and that there are ways to help prevent it.
Today and for the next three weeks, we’ll post a blog focusing on one of these four important steps.
Cook
Always cook food to the right temperature.
The only way to know when meats, poultry and seafood have reached a safe internal temperature is to use a food thermometer. You can’t tell by looking or by the color of meat or poultry.
Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures.
Cook all ground meat, including hamburgers, to 160 °F.
Cook all chicken and turkey—whole, pieces or ground—to 165 °F.
Reheat leftovers to 165 °F.
Always place the food thermometer in the thickest part of the food, away from bone and fat, to check the temperature.
Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of the food in several places.
When cooking in a microwave oven, stir, cover, and rotate food for even cooking. Let food rest for a few minutes after cooking it in the microwave. This helps your food cook more completely by allowing colder areas of food time to absorb heat from hotter areas of food.
More information can be found here to make sure you’re cooking different types of food and using kitchen appliances properly to keep your family safe. Follow #checksteps on Twitter or visit www.Facebook.com/foodsafety.gov for updates from the Food Safe Families campaign.
New Multimedia Campaign Aims to Reduce Food Poisoning
Today, USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services launched a true first for our departments and our nation’s public health system. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service partnered with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Ad Council to debut a joint, national, multimedia public service campaign called Food Safe Families to help Americans prevent food-related illnesses in their homes. With this campaign, we’re trying to shift the way people think about food handling so they can take a more proactive, preventive approach at home to help reduce food-related illnesses.
The launch of the Food Safe Families campaign comes at a time when attention to food safety issues is high. This is also the start of summer and grilling season, when foodborne illnesses tend to increase with more outdoor meals and other factors that increase the risk for disease-causing bacteria in food. American families are looking for clear and concise information on how to better protect themselves, and this campaign has the potential to generate unprecedented national exposure to issues of food safety and foodborne illness prevention.
Using the motto “Check Your Steps” (#checksteps on Twitter), Food Safe Families aims to get consumers to adopt four very easy steps when preparing food:
- Clean: Clean kitchen surfaces, utensils, and hands with soap and water while preparing food.
- Separate: Separate raw meats from other foods by using different cutting boards.
- Cook: Cook foods to the right temperature by using a food thermometer.
- Chill: Chill raw and prepared foods promptly.
The campaign includes English and Spanish-language television, radio, print, and Web advertising, as well as an integrated social media program. All campaign elements direct audiences to visit FoodSafety.gov, a recently refreshed and updated site in English and Spanish, where they can learn about food safety practices. The program includes a new FoodSafety.gov Facebook page and outreach via the site’s Twitter handle, both emphasizing “Check Your Steps.” Consumers can also access "Ask Karen,” an online database with answers to nearly 1,500 food safety questions.
This Thursday, join @FoodSafetyGov and @USDAFoodSafety in a live Twitter Chat at 1:00 p.m. EDT, using the hashtag #checksteps to kick off the campaign and get answers to Fourth of July grilling questions.
Barbecue Basics: Keeping Bacteria at Bay
Summer brings out barbecue grills—and bacteria, which multiply in food faster in warm weather and can cause food poisoning (also known as foodborne illness). Following a few simple guidelines can prevent an unpleasant experience.
Wash your hands
Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. If you're eating where there’s no source of clean water, bring water, soap, and paper towels or have disposable wipes or hand sanitizer available.
Marinate food in the refrigerator
Don’t marinate on the counter—marinate in the refrigerator. If you want to use marinade as a sauce on cooked food, save a separate portion in the refrigerator. Do not reuse marinade that contacted raw meat, poultry, or seafood on cooked food unless you bring it to a boil first.
Keep raw food separate
Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood in a separate cooler or securely wrapped at the bottom of a cooler so their juices won’t contaminate already prepared foods or raw produce. Don't use a plate or utensils that previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafood for anything else unless you wash them first in hot, soapy water. Have a clean platter and utensils ready at grill-side for serving.
Cook food thoroughly
Use a food thermometer to make sure food is cooked thoroughly to destroy harmful bacteria. Refer to the Safe Minimum Temperatures chart for safe minimum internal temperatures for foods. Partial precooking in the microwave oven or on the stove is a good way to reduce grilling time—just make sure the food goes immediately on the preheated grill to finish cooking.
Keep hot food hot and cold food cold
- Keep hot food at 140° F or above until served. Keep cooked meats hot by setting them to the side of the grill, or wrap well and place in an insulated container.
- Keep cold food at 40° F or below until served. Keep cold perishable food in a cooler until serving time. Keep coolers out of direct sun and avoid opening the lid often.
- Cold foods can be placed directly on ice or in a shallow container set in a pan of ice. Drain off water as ice melts and replace ice frequently.
- Don’t let hot or cold perishables sit out for longer than two hours, or one hour if the outdoor temperature is above 90° F. When reheating fully cooked meats, grill to 165° F or until steaming hot.
- Transport food in the passenger compartment of the car where it’s cooler—not in the trunk.
Put these items on your list
These non-food items are indispensable for a safe barbecue.
- Food thermometer
- Several coolers: one for beverages (which will be opened frequently), one for raw meats, poultry, and seafood, and another for cooked foods and raw produce
- Ice or frozen gel packs for coolers
- Jug of water, soap, and paper towels for washing hands
- Enough plates and utensils to keep raw and cooked foods separate
- Foil or other wrap for leftovers
For more information, check out Eating Outdoors, Handling Food Safely and Barbecue and Food Safety