While having a barbeque party and chilling with your friends on summer evening seem fun, you want to make sure of safety and hygiene for outdoor grilling to prevent the possibility of food-borne disease.

Against the common misconception, people are likely to suffer from food poisoning from home-cooked food as well if you lack food hygiene.

These guidelines will help you ensure a safe barbecue, retaining health and hygiene to eating outdoors this summer.

1. Keeping of food (Temperature sensitivity)

This is as easy as it sounds. Make sure to maintain food temperature out of the ‘danger zone’ (40 to 140 deg) when food poisoning happens more quickly. Keep warm foods in flat trays or on the side of a pan, avoiding unnecessary heat. Place cold food either in ice baths or refrigerators before you are prepared to serve. One idea is to put cold food into two separate bags.

2. Wash your hands

Wash your hands properly with water and soap and clean them before handling and eating undercooked food such as meat, poultry, eggs, and veggies as well as after touching the bin, using the washroom, wiping your nose or handling animals.

3.  Keep surfaces, utensils and hands clean

Remember to clean the utensils or surfaces with hot or soapy water for a minimum of 20 seconds. Clean your hands as well as surfaces and utensils when handling or cooking food to help prevent cross-contamination. Place raw chicken within separate bags away from certain foods.

4. Cook food thoroughly

Make sure that certain food such as burgers, sausages, chicken, pork, and kebabs are cooked before steaming warm, without any pink meat within. Do not wash raw meat (such as chicken and turkey) until cooking, as this could spread bacteria throughout the kitchen.

5. Keep up to the time

Food must not be left out for more than two hours unless the temperature is above 90 degrees. The longer the food is left out, the more  bacteria start to contaminate food increases the risk of food poisoning.

Further, freezing raw meat diminishes the level of campylobacter bacteria but doesn’t remove it wholly. One proper method is to kill the entire trace of this bacterium by thoroughly cooking the meat.

Final thought!

If you ever had food poisoning, you know how annoying it must be for a healthy and fit individual. Food poisoning may sometimes cause severe illness and even death. Following these guidelines, you can prevent the risk of any food contamination and ensure your health and hygiene to enjoy cooking and outdoor eating with your loved ones!