5 simple ways to keep your BBQ safe this summer
Trish Twohig, Director of Food Safety with Safefood, shares five simple ways to keep your barbecue safe this summer.
When the weather starts getting hot, the barbecue comes out, but so do some of the most common food safety mistakes. Small mistakes can lead to food poisoning, but these can be avoided with some good food safety practices.
The good news is that keeping food safe doesn’t require anything complicated. It comes down to a few simple habits like keeping hot food hot, cold food cold, not mixing raw and cooked foods and making sure everything is cooked through.
Good kitchen hygiene is just as important. Wash your hands thoroughly with warm soapy water before and after handling raw foods such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and unwashed vegetables. Clean utensils, chopping boards and surfaces with hot soapy water. These simple everyday habits can help stop harmful bacteria from spreading.
The recently launched Safe2Eat campaign — led by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and supported in Ireland by Safefood — is focusing on making food safety simple this summer.
With BBQs and family gatherings on the agenda over the coming months, here are five things worth keeping in mind before you get grilling.
Think about temperature
BBQ meat should always be cooked to at least 75°C, and if it’s not being eaten straight away, don’t leave it sitting out.
For salads, dips and desserts, they should stay properly chilled (below 5°C). That means keeping them in the fridge until you are ready to serve them or using a cool box with ice packs if you’re outdoors.
A little prep goes a long way
Barbecues might feel spontaneous, but the safest ones are usually the best planned. Always give your grill a good clean before you fire it up. Scrub the metal rack with an oven cleaner or a damp brush dipped in bread soda. Rinse it well with hot, soapy water afterwards.
Also, if you’re using a charcoal BBQ, don’t start grilling your food until the flames have died down. The coals should be glowing before you start grilling. It makes a big difference to how evenly your food cooks.
If you’re cooking BBQ meat and chicken, make sure they are fully defrosted first. Cooking from frozen often leads to food that looks done on the outside but isn’t properly cooked inside. Defrost in the fridge overnight, on a plate on the bottom shelf to avoid drips onto other foods.
Keep raw and cooked foods well apart
Cross-contamination can happen when bacteria from raw food are transferred to other food. It often happens without people noticing: the same tongs used for raw and cooked meat, or a cooked burger placed back onto the plate that had raw burgers.
A few simple habits make all the difference:
Use separate utensils and plates for raw and cooked foods.
Wash your hands with warm, soapy water after handling raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs and unwashed vegetables.
Keep foods like salads or coleslaw away from raw ingredients.
Make sure any marinade used on raw meat is not then used as a sauce to coat vegetables or cooked meat. It will contain raw meat bacteria.
It might seem obvious, but in the middle of hosting, it’s easy to forget.
When it comes to cooking, don’t rely on looks
A nicely charred sausage or burger can still be undercooked in the middle. This is especially important for chicken, pork, minced or skewered meat like burgers, sausages and kebabs. The safest way to check is with a meat thermometer. You’re aiming for at least 75°C at the thickest part.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, cut into the food and check that it’s steaming hot all the way through, with no pink meat and clear juices. Steaks or whole joints of beef or lamb, they can be served rare if they are cooked on the outside.
If you’re feeding a crowd, one practical tip is to cook meat in the oven first and finish it on the barbecue. You still need to make sure it reaches at least 75°C, but you still get the same great flavour, with much more control.
And finally — don’t forget about leftovers
Once the plates are cleared, it’s tempting to leave everything for later. But leftovers need attention too. Bring food inside, cover it and refrigerate it within two hours. Eat within three days, and when reheating, make sure it’s piping hot and only reheat once. If something looks or smells off, it’s best not to risk it – throw it out!
BBQs are meant to be enjoyed, and with a few simple precautions, they can be both relaxed and safe. At the end of the day, the only thing your guests should be talking about afterwards is how good the food was, and not how it made them feel later.
Find more tips on how to safely BBQ this summer by visiting safefood.net. Learn more and access expert-backed advice by visiting efsa.europa.eu/en/safe2eat and join the conversation using #Safe2EatEU.
