Safe Summer Eating

Whatever you cook during the summer, keep food safe for friends and family with the Food Standards Agency's food safety tips.

Barbeques

When you're barbecuing, the biggest risk of food poisoning is from raw and undercooked meat. You can make sure food is cooked properly by:

Waiting until the charcoal is glowing red, with a powdery grey surface, before you start to cook
Making sure frozen food is properly thawed before you cook it
Turning the food regularly and moving it around the barbecue to cook it evenly
Checking that the centre of the food is piping hot
Checking that none of the meat is pink and that any juices run clear
Not assuming that if meat is charred on the outside that it will be cooked properly on the inside

If you're barbecuing for lots of people, you could cook meat indoors and finish it off on the barbecue for added flavour. Remember, when you reheat food on the barbecue, always make sure it's piping hot all the way through before serving.

Keeping raw meat away from ready-to-eat food

Raw meat can contain food poisoning bugs, so if it touches or drips onto food that is already cooked or ready to eat, the bugs can get onto that food. Bugs can also transfer onto food from your hands, chopping board, knife or tongs. This is called cross-contamination, and you can prevent it by doing the following things:

Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw meat
Use separate utensils for raw and cooked meat
Never put cooked food on a plate or surface that has been used for raw meat
Keep raw meat in a sealed container away from ready-to-eat foods, such as burger buns and salads
Do not put raw meat products next to cooked or partially cooked meat on the barbecue
Do not add sauce or marinade to cooked food if it has already been used with raw meat

Other tips for outdoor eating

Warm summer weather is perfect for bacteria to grow, so it is especially important to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold until you're ready to eat them
If you are having a buffet, try to keep the food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible
If there are any leftovers from a buffet or barbecue, throw them away or put them in the fridge as soon as you can
When you take leftovers out of the fridge, eat them immediately or reheat them thoroughly straight away - do not leave them standing around at room temperature
Keep food covered whenever possible - this is to protect it from insects, birds and pets, which can carry bugs
Wash fruit and salad vegetables thoroughly
Always try to wash your hands before eating but, if you cannot, you could use antiseptic hand wipes instead.

When you are going on a picnic, you should also be careful to keep food cool. Do not take it out of the fridge until the last minute and use a cool bag to keep it chilled until you are ready to eat. It is especially important to keep the following foods chilled:

Food containing cream, such as trifle, cream cakes and desserts
Meat and poultry
Food containing raw eggs

The Food Standards Agency leaflet 'Beat the barbecue bugs' can be downloaded from their website. If you would prefer a hard copy of the booklet please contact FSA publications on 0845 6060667.