Outdoor grilling tips

Abstract

Welcome to Public Health Moment from the University of Minnesota. The weather is warming and many of us are digging out our grills for another outdoor barbecue season. As we do that, we should remember to follow some basic food safety guidelines in order to protect us and our guests from food-borne illness. Professor Craig Hedberg, a food safety expert at the University of Minnesota, provides some advice. <Hedberg: “Whenever we are cooking meat or poultry products, you want to make sure you are cooking them thoroughly to a temperature that will kill any pathogenic bacteria that might be on those products. Another step is to make sure that you don’t contaminate cooked and ready-to-eat foods with the raw chicken or meat juices from plates that you bring out to the grill to cook the meat with. The third major thing is to make sure that you are chilling your foods promptly after you are done eating.”> Hedberg also recommends that you wash your hands frequently and for at least 20 seconds each time you wash. <Hedberg: “Before you prepare food, before you eat food, it’s important to wash your hands and prevent transmission of illness to yourself or to members of your family.”> For John Finnegan and Public Health Moment, I’m Mark Engebretson