Investigating BBQ Food Safety Article

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Investigating BBQ Food Safety

Giving you a helping hand with BBQ Cooking Guidelines and safety hints and tips.

Author: Scott L Morris

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Bbq Food Safety

Instances of food poisoning double over the summer months, so make sure you be aware of easy steps that will help to keep food safe.

Food poisoning is generally mild, and most people improve inside a week. But occasionally it can be more severe, actually lethal, therefore it’s important to take the dangers seriously. Kids, seniors and people with weakened natural defenses tend to be particularly susceptible to food poisoning.

"The safest choice would be to cook food inside making use of your oven," states a spokesperson from the Food Standards Agency (Fsay). "You can then place the cooked food outside on the barbecue for flavor." This is often an easier option if you're cooking food for a lot of people at the same time.

But if you prefer to cook on the barbecue, the two main risk factors are:

undercooked meat

spreading germs from uncooked meat onto food that’s ready to eat

The reason being uncooked or undercooked meat can contain bacteria that cause food poisoning, for example salmonella, E.coli and campylobacter. However, it’s easy to destroy these bacteria by cooking meat till it is piping hot throughout.

Cooking meat on the barbecue

When you are cooking any type of meat on a barbecue, such as poultry (chicken or even turkey), pork, steak, burgers or sausages, make certain:

The hot coals are glowing red with a powdery gray surface before you begin cooking, as which means that they are hot enough.

Frozen meat is properly thawed before you decide to cook it.

You turn the actual meat frequently and move it round the bbq to cook it evenly.

Keep in mind that meat is actually safe to eat only if:

It is piping hot in the centre.

There is no pink meat visible.

Any juices are clear.

"Don’t presume that because meat is charred on the exterior it will be cooked correctly on the inside," states the Fsa spokesperson. "Cut the meat at the thickest part and be sure none of it is pink inside."

Some meat, such as steaks and joints of beef or lamb, can be served rare (not cooked in the middle) so long as the exterior has been properly cooked. This can kill any kind of bacteria that might be on the outside of the meat. However, food produced from minced meat, for instance sausages and burgers, must be cooked thoroughly all the way through.

Uncooked meat

Germs from raw meat can move easily onto your hands, after which onto anything else you touch, including food that is prepared and ready to consume. This is called cross-contamination.

Cross-contamination can happen if raw meat touches anything (such as dishes, cutlery, tongs and chopping boards) which then comes into contact with other food.

Some simple steps to help prevent cross-contamination are:

Wash both hands after each time you contact uncooked meat.

Use separate utensils (dishes, tongs, storage containers) for cooked and uncooked meat.

Never place cooked food on a plate or surface which has had raw meat on it.

Keep uncooked meat in a sealed container away from foods that will be ready to consume, for example salads and buns.

Don’t place raw meat alongside cooked or partly-cooked meat on the barbecue.

Don’t put sauce or marinade on cooked food if it has already been used with raw meat.

Keeping food cool

It is also vital that you keep a few foods cool to prevent food-poisoning bacteria multiplying.

Make sure you keep the subsequent foods cool:

salads

dips

milk, cream, yogurt

desserts and cream cakes

sandwiches

ham and other cooked meats

cooked rice, including rice salads

Do not leave food out of the fridge for more than a couple of hours, and don’t leave food in the sun.

See the Food Standard Agency's GermWatch campaign.

Fire safety

Make certain your barbecue is steady on a level surface, away from vegetation and trees and shrubs.

The fire Service advises covering the bottom of your bbq with coal to a depth of a maximum of 5cm (2in). Use only recognised firelighters or starter fuel, and then only on cold coals.

Never make use of petrol on a barbecue.

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