Food Safety Rules When Grilling

First posted on 06-29-2009

By Pryor Jordan for the Cooperative Extension Service

During warm summer months, picnic areas and campgrounds around the state fill with vacationers, grilling their favorite meats over open flames.

As with all cooking, “If you keep your hands clean, cook meat to a proper temperature, and handle it properly, you decrease your risk of being infected from any number of organisms,” said Dr. Denise Brochetti, an extension assistant professor of nutrition with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

Food safety starts at the store

Food safety begins at the grocery store. Meat and poultry should be refrigerated within two hours of purchase or within one hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees. Poultry or ground beef that won’t be used in one or two days should be frozen. Other meats should be frozen within four or five days.

Meats can be thawed in the refrigerator, or sealed packages can be thawed in cold water. If the meat is going to be placed immediately on the grill, defrosting in the microwave is fine.

Degrees of safety on the grill

Meat headed to a campground should be packed with ice in a cooler.

“You have to think about keeping it cold, long enough to get it to the grill,” Brochetti said. This means keeping the cooler out of direct sun and avoiding opening the lid too often.

Temperature counts when applying heat too. Even though meat and poultry cooked on the grill often browns very fast on the outside, a food thermometer should be used to make sure the food reaches safe internal temperatures to avoid food-borne illnesses:

* Chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
* Hamburgers and pork should reach 160.
* Beef, veal and lamb steaks, roasts and chops should reach 160 degrees if cooked medium, or 145 degrees if cooked medium rare.
* Reheating fully cooked meats like hot dogs, grill to 165 degrees or until steaming hot.
* Cooked meat and poultry should be kept to the side of the grilling rack and kept at 140 degrees or warmer until served

“A lot of the illnesses you see are from chicken or ground beef, and improperly cooking those foods,” Brochetti said.

Leftovers should be refrigerated promptly. Throw out any food left out for more than 2 hours, or one hour if the temperature is above 90.

Signs of trouble

Most food-borne illnesses are caused by bacteria. Though numerous types of bacteria can cause different illnesses with different symptoms, flu-like symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and sometimes fever, are the most common, Brochetti said.

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