Partnership for Food Safety Education

FightBAC!

  • Food Safety Basics
    • The Core Four Practices
    • Featured Resources
  • Food Poisoning
    • About Foodborne Illness
    • Foodborne Pathogens
    • Causes & Symptoms
    • Food Safety Glossary
  • Food Safety Education
    • National Food Safety Education Month
    • Safe Poultry Handling
    • Food Safety Mythbusters
    • Prep Yourself: Delivery Food Is on the Way
    • The Story of Your Dinner
    • Flour & Home Food Safety
    • Safe Produce
    • Recall Basics
    • Go 40 or Below
    • Safety in All Seasons
  • K-12 Education
    • Curricula & Programs
    • Hands On
    • Kids Games & Activities
    • School Lunches
  • Child Care
    • Babies & Toddlers
    • Child Care Training
  • Safe Recipes
    • Safe Recipe Style Guide
    • Safe Recipe Activity for Middle School
    • Cookbooks
    • Appetizers
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Desserts
  • Free Resources
    • Coronavirus Resources
    • Recorded Webinars
    • World Food Safety Day
    • Global Handwashing Day
    • Recursos en español
    • Evaluation Toolkit
  • About Us
    • Partnership & History
    • Board of Directors
    • Who Is Involved
    • PFSE Team
    • Brand Assets
    • BAC Fighter Ambassadors
    • Job Openings
    • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • 2023 Conference
  • News & Blogs

Hot Off the Grill: Home Grilling Safety Tips

May 11, 2020

Families are doing more grilling this year. Nielsen reported that fresh meat alternative sales increased 255% in the last week of March (compared to the same week in 2019), fully outpacing the growth of meat sales, which increased 53% over the same period.

Fight BAC! is here to help you out with a few essential tips on handling meat safely, and how grilling safely at home can keep you and your family healthy.

Clean hands & surfaces

Washing your hands and surfaces the correct way will help reduce the risk of harmful germs:

  • Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.
  • Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
  • Do not rinse raw meat or poultry before cooking it. This is not a safety step, and it could spread dangerous germs around your kitchen.


Thawing meat

woman and daughter washing at kitchen sinkYou may be buying more meats in bulk right now and freezing for later use. Make sure to thaw meats properly:

  • Never let raw meat, poultry, eggs, cooked food or cut fresh fruits or vegetables sit at room temperature more than two hours before putting them in the refrigerator or freezer (one hour when the temperature is above 90°F).
  • Never thaw food at room temperature. Food must be kept at a safe temperature during thawing.
  • There are three safe ways to defrost food: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Food thawed in cold water or in the microwave should be cooked immediately

Marinades

Everyone loves a good marinade! Make sure to safely marinate and store your meat:

  • Always marinate foods in the refrigerator, not on the counter or outdoors.
  • Don’t use sauce that was used to marinate raw meat or poultry on cooked food.
  • Reserve a portion of the unused marinade to use as a sauce.

Grilling temps

meat thermometer checking grilled meatWhen it’s time to grill the food, cook it to a safe internal temperature for safety and quality. Use a food thermometer to be sure! 

  • Beef, pork, veal and lamb (roast, steaks and chops): 145 °F with a three-minute “rest time” after removal from the heat source
  • Ground meats: 160 °F
  • Poultry (whole, parts or ground): 165 °F
  • Eggs and egg dishes: 160 °F, but cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm; scrambled eggs should not be runny
  • Fin fish: 145 °F
  • Shrimp, lobster and crabs: flesh pearly and opaque
  • Clams, oysters and mussels: shells open during cooking
  • Scallops: milky white, opaque and firm
Download the Safe Minimal Internal Temperatures Chart

Avoid cross-contamination

chicken and produce kept separate on counterCross-contamination is how harmful bacteria can be spread. Improper handling of raw meat, poultry or seafood can create an inviting environment for cross-contamination:

  • Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry or seafood.
  • Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood.
  • Be sure to have plenty of clean utensils and platters on hand.

Leftovers

After the meal, remember to handle leftovers safely to prevent foodborne illness:

  • Plan on enough storage space in the refrigerator and freezer. In the refrigerator, air needs to circulate to keep the temperature at 40 °F or below. Use an appliance thermometer in your refrigerator to monitor the temperature.
  • Divide large amounts of leftovers into shallow containers for quicker cooling in the refrigerator.
  • Leftovers stored in the refrigerator should be consumed within 3-4 days
  • Reheat leftovers to 165 °F before eating.

woman washing vegetables in kitchenTo help you Fight BAC!® (harmful bacteria) this grilling season, we’ve collected five grilling recipes with built-in food safety and hand hygiene steps.

Check out food safety videos on grilling and safe food preparation on the Food Safety YouTube channel.

Have a happy and safe grilling season!

Shawnte Loeri is the Communications Associate with the Partnership for Food Safety Education. She can be reached at sloeri@fightbac.org.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: BAC Fighter, Core Four Practices, Food handling, food poisoning, food safety, Food safety education, foodborne illness, fridge, grill, Grill Master, grilling, grilling season, grilling temperature, grilling temps, Handwashing, leftover, leftovers, marinade, marinades, marinate, meat, protein, summer, summer grilling, Summer picnic, thaw, thawing, thawing meat, wash hands

Wake TV Video Collaboration is All About Food Safety

August 7, 2017

Public health educator Michelle Ricci and her team at the Wake County, NC Communicable Disease Program are always seeking new opportunities to deliver food safety messages to consumers in the county.  They reached out to the county’s communications office about doing a food safety segment for Wake TV — a program that connects visitors and residents to news, services, interviews, and event information. Wake TV programming is available through their YouTube Channel.

The county’s communications office went a step further and offered to produce four short videos on each of the core home food safety practices:  Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill. The four videos use information from FightBAC.org and rely on talented Wake County co-workers as “actors”.  A colleague offered the use of the kitchen in her new apartment and the communication office’s digital media and design services staff filmed and produced the videos. A local Food Lion store manager graciously allowed the office to shoot footage for the videos in his store.

The videos aired on Wake TV at the beginning of August 2017. There are plans to promote the videos on Wake County’s website as part of their September Food Safety Education Month efforts. The videos will also be featured on social media, with special promotion planned for the winter holidays.

Please click on the thumbnail images to play videos.

[huge_it_videogallery id=”4″]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Core Four Practices, Fight BAC, FightBac, food safety, Food safety education, Food Safety Education Month, Food safety educator, North Carolina, Public health educator

Fighting BAC! in the Philippines

May 1, 2017

In the spring of 2016, BAC! Fighter Marie Josephine Paredes-Umali of Valencia, California presented Fight BAC! food safety lectures in the Philippines.  She found an audience thirsty for this information and learned that there were few readily available food safety training resources.

Paredes speaking about parasites

Invitation to become a BAC Fighter!

Mayors, government coordinators, market vendors and vendors selling RTE foods made up her large audiences. For many, this was the first time they had been exposed to any food safety training. Participants received a Fight BAC! Core Four Practices poster, with extra copies to post in schools, public health centers, markets, and homes. Marie Josephine invited each of the participants to become BAC Fighters.

Paredes students in Philipines

Food Market Audits

In Makati City, the government unit official requested a food safety audit of the Sunday Market. Marie Josephine noticed many unsafe food handling practices and commented on these during her next lecture. A few days later, she repeated the audit and noticed many positive changes. Armed with food safety information, the food vendors were ready and willing to improve their practices. The Red Cross local chapter will continue to audit the market vendors’ food handling practices.

Semi-Retired?

Though she is “semi-retired”, Marie Josephine opened an office in Manila– MJPU Foodsafety Consultancy—which will will focus on food safety education and helping the Philippines with implementation of FSMA.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: BAC Fighter, California, Core Four Practices, Fight BAC, Food handling, Food safety education, Food safety resources, Food safety training, Philippines

Joanna’s Hands-On Food Safety Education

February 7, 2017

Food safety is a key concept learned in classes taught by Joanna Fedor, Family and Consumer Science Teacher at Northridge High School in Greeley, Colorado. Joanna moves her students from little or no knowledge of  hand hygiene basics to a working knowledge of the why’s and how’s of food safety.

She uses interactive activities such as Glo-Germ for hand washing education and the free, science-based curricular materials at fightbac.org for teaching the basic four skills of clean, separate, cook and chill.

In addition, Joanna works with students on the culinary teams to prepare for competitions. These student chefs run food safety circles around most TV chefs!

Joanna and her students explain:

Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized Tagged With: Colorado, Core Four Practices, food safety, Food safety educator, Food safety teacher, Handwashing

Home Cooks — The Story of Your Dinner

¡Haga clic aquí para ver videos, recetas e información sobre seguridad alimentaria en español!

There’s no place for bacteria at your dinner table this holiday season! Children ages 7 and under, as well as pregnant women and elderly people, are at higher risk of food poisoning. Take action to make sure you’re following food safety steps from store to table.

We hope you enjoy The Story of Your Dinner, including the recipes, videos and kids’ activities prepared just for your family!

Videos
Safe Recipes
Downloads

Videos

Your Baby & Food Safety
Download flyer

Keeping a Clean Scene

The Story of Your Dinner Chain of Prevention in Food Safety (CDC)

Safe Recipes

NEW! Veggie Breakfast Skillet

NEW! Sausage & White Bean Stew with Spinach
NEW! Red Lentil Pasta with Fire-roasted and Sundried Tomatoes
NEW! Lily’s Hawaiian Grain Bowl
NEW! Peanut Butter Brownies

Hot Chocolate Cookies

A peanut butter brownie sitting on top a pile of peanuts.

CONTEST WINNER! Spinach Frittata with
Goat Cheese, Pear & Walnuts

Crispy Beef Lettuce Wraps with Wowee Sauce

Check out more The Story of Your Dinner recipes and videos!

Downloads

Activity Sheets for Kids
Kid-Friendly Placemats
Safe Recipe Activity

NEW! Holiday Food Delivery
English | Español

11 Food Safety Tips
English | Español

Holiday Meal Flyer
English | Español

Buffets & Parties Flyer
English | Español

Baking Tips Infographic
English | Español

Frozen Foods Tips
English | Español

Handwashing Infographic
PDF | JPG

Fight BAC! Brochure
English | Español

LOGO TRANSPARENT
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Copyright © 2023 · Partnership for Food Safety Education

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin Instagram Youtube Youtube Envelope
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Disclaimer