Consumers Encouraged to Think Food Safety During Barbecue Season
CANADA - Farm-Scape: Episode 2136. Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.Farm-Scape is sponsored by
Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork. |
Farm-Scape, Episode 2136
The Food Safety Information Society is encouraging consumers to keep food safety in mind as they move meal preparation from indoors to the outdoor barbecue.
The Food Safety Information Society operates a toll free food safety information line and internet web site, both of which are designed to help keep consumers informed about the various risks associated with foodborn pathogens and other potential food contaminants and how to minimize those risks.
Home Economist Jane Carlyle recommends minimizing the amount of time foods, especially meats, remain in the danger zone temperatures, which range from refrigeration temperature at four degrees Celsius to cooked temperature at 60 degrees Celsius.
"It's a change in season. We are starting to handle foods differently.
First of all we're taking them kind of out of our kitchen into a different location, to the barbecue on the back deck and you need to start thinking about the food safety concerns right there in the grocery store.
You want to pick up that meat, get it home and into your refrigerator, hopefully in less than an hour so that it stays cold and it's not going to be a safety concern.
The other thing too, we usually talk about the two hour rule of not leaving perishable foods out for more than two hours.
As our weather gets warmer throughout the summer we change that rule to a one hour rule so you don't want to be leaving that food out in the hot sun for more than an hour because it could become a safety concern.
Cross contamination can be a concern too so, as you take your raw meat to the barbecue, you want to make sure that dish is completely cleaned or you're using a different dish once you bring the cooked meat off the barbecue."
The society's toll-free telephone line can be accessed at 1-800-892-8333 and its web site is located at www.foodsafetyline.org.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.