by Juliet Bodinetz-Rich, Executive Director
Bilingual Hospitality
Training Solutions
I went to a cookout recently and personally observed many
critical errors. I sometimes joke with my students, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
On this day I found myself correcting situations at the cookout hosted by
someone I considered to be “in the know” on food safety. This reconfirmed the
truth that food safety guidelines
might not change significantly from year to year but they do always need to be practiced. Cookouts are fun, but sometimes we
are in such a rush to make a lovely meal, that we don’t pay attention to the
obvious, as we are not in our comfort zone … our indoor restaurant or home kitchen.
At this cookout, I observed carrying of raw meat on a plate
to the outdoors with raw meat juice dripping off the plate across the counter
top and onto the floor. I observed the coals being too hot before the steaks
were put on the grill and this led to the steaks catching on fire and turning
black on the grill, but remaining raw internally. In the urgency to get the
flaming steaks off of the grill, they were nearly put back on the original
plate with raw meat juices. The other raw steaks were put back in the fridge
until the coals were not so hot. The problem is that they were put on the top
shelf above ready-to-eat foods. My observations really hit home first hand that
cross contamination is a major culprit that could lead to foodborne illness when
cooking outdoors.
Food safety has to be practiced in every step in the flow of
the food. Whether as a professional cook or as a home cook, we have to always
strive to avoid the three leading factors that contribute to foodborne
illnesses. No matter: indoors or outdoors; we still have to:
- Control Time and Temperature
- Avoid Cross Contamination
- Practice Good Personal Hygiene
Here are our suggestions this year for Safe Outdoors
Grilling and Serving Food:
1)
To Control
Time and Temperature:
- First, BUY a thermometer like you have in your restaurant kitchen!
- Check food temperatures at the minimum every four hours if it’s being held.
- When holding or displaying food – discard food at the minimum at four hours if the temperature is measuring inside the Temperature Danger Zone (41°F - 135°F).
- USE the thermometer! Meat can look cooked, but still be undercooked.
- Cook foods to the proper temperatures on the grill:
- 165°F - Poultry
- 155°F - Ground Meats/Ground Fish & Marinated Meats/Marinated Fish
- 145°F – Meats (any meat with no wings, i.e. beef, lamb, pork, veal) and fish
- Keep food under refrigeration until ready to grill.
- Prepare small batches of food at a time.
- Keep food on ice or under refrigeration whenever possible.
- Display smaller quantities of food and replenish from refrigeration as needed. At the minimum, consider having the food displayed indoors for service to avoid being in higher temperatures outside.
2)
To Avoid
Cross Contamination:
·
Clean hands! Wash your hands when dirty and
before touching a new food.
·
Consider holding/carrying raw meats in a pan
versus a plate outside. The pan has sides that will contain raw meat juices so
they don’t spill and drip on other surfaces as you are trying to carry it out
of the kitchen
·
Make sure all surfaces that touch food are clean
and sanitized.
·
Consider using color coded equipment. Besides
color coded cutting boards, consider using color coded tongs. This can help you
distinguish to use one set of tongs for raw food and another color coded set of
tongs for the cooked food.
·
DON’T
use the same plate to bring out the raw meats to serve the cooked meats.
·
Don’t store raw meat under refrigeration above
ready-to-eat foods.
·
Don’t use the same marinade to baste that you
used to marinate meats and fish. Why not reserve a portion of your marinade
separate, so you can use it to baste pre-marinated meats or seafood during the
cooking process that has not been contaminated by raw meat juices in the
marinating process?
·
Don’t use the same ice that was used to keep
food or drinks cold in your drinks.
·
Keep washing your hands! … especially, when
changing food handling tasks or after
tasting food with your hands and licking your fingers.
·
Keep the food covered as much as possible. We
don’t want flies leaving their business on our food. Use lids, plastic wrap/tin
foil or consider purchasing the netted covers.
·
Remember to put a serving utensil in each
individual dish for serving.
·
Provide clean plates to your guests for second
portions.
3)
Practice
Proper Personal Hygiene:
·
Wash Your Hands.
I had a lot of fun at the cookout and appreciate all of the
host’s efforts to make it so lovely but, I wonder now … ”Will I ever be invited
to another cookout after this article?”
Juliet Bodinetz-Rich
is the executive director of Bilingual Hospitality Training Solutions and has
over 25 years industry and training experience. Her team of instructors’
specialty is food safety, alcohol training and ServSafe training in English or
in Spanish and writing HACCP Plans in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. Metro
Area. www.bilingualhospitality.com, juliet@bilingualhospitality.com or
443-838-7561. For Latest Food Safety Tips: Become a Fan on Facebook or Twitter:
@BHTS
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