Memorial Day weekend is approaching, and that means the unofficial start to summer. That means the unofficial start to the outdoor cooking season, and that can mean the unofficial start to the food-borne illness season.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million people get sick from food-borne illness each year; of those, they add, 128,000 end up in the hospital, and 3,000 die.
That means it’s time to go over the rules for what does — and doesn’t — cause such illnesses, and Sally Squires, who writes the Lean Plate Club™ blog, said that so many of those rules come down to simple common sense.
The first step, Squires said, is to wash your hands.
“I really can’t emphasize that enough. We need to wash our hands before we cook [and] while we cook.” A good hand washing takes about the same amount of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday,” which is longer than most people, who “will just kind of rinse their hands off,” she said. It’s important to use good hot water, too.
When you’re cooking with your clean hands, cross-contamination is key. Keep raw meat away from other foods, whether it’s on the grill, in the kitchen or even in the grocery cart.
That applies even when your meat is cooked, Squires said: A lot of people will “bring their cooked meat back on the platter that had the raw meat. And that’s a big mistake.”
There’s one common bit of wisdom that’s false, though: The mayonnaise in your potato salad isn’t going to carry more risk of illnesses such as salmonella than anything else. Squires calls it “a food myth that refuses to die.”
It comes from the days when mayonnaise was homemade with raw eggs. That will, indeed, land you in trouble, Squires said, but because virtually everyone uses store-bought mayo, which uses cooked eggs, you’ll be OK: “Mayonnaise is safe as long as it’s commercially prepared.”
The rest of Squires’ tips are easy enough to keep track of: Use a meat thermometer, so you can be sure you’ve cooked your meat well enough to kill any bacteria; wash fruits and vegetables, too; and don’t let anyone, including yourself, cook if they’re not feeling well.
Also: “Don’t leave food out for more than two hours.”
