Keep Food Safe Blog

Team Up to Tackle Food Safety

It’s tailgate season — are you ready for the kick off? Planning is the key to keeping your food safe during a tailgate, so get your gear ready now. Do you have enough coolers and all the tools you need to cook? In addition to a grill and fuel for cooking make sure you don’t forget your most valuable player, the food thermometer. It’s the only way you can be sure your meat or poultry has reached a safe temperature.  

Don’t sideline your guests—Stay in the Food Safety Zone

• Bring water for cleaning if none will be available at the site. Pack clean, wet, disposable cloths or moist towelettes and paper towels for cleaning hands and surfaces.
• Carry cold perishable food like raw hamburger patties, sausages, and chicken in an insulated cooler packed with several inches of ice, frozen gel packs, or containers of ice.
• Be sure raw meat and poultry are wrapped securely to prevent their juices from cross-contaminating ready-to-eat food. If possible, store these foods near the bottom of the cooler, so that juices don't contaminate other foods in the cooler.
• If you can't keep hot food hot during the drive to your tailgate, plan and chill the food in the refrigerator before packing it in a cooler. Reheat the food to 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer.
• If bringing hot take-out food, eat it within 2 hours of purchase (1 hour if the temperature is above 90 °F).

Know your opponent—Defend against bacteria

To defeat bacteria, use a food thermometer! Meat and poultry cooked on a grill often browns very fast on the outside. the only way to be sure that the food has reached a safe minimum internal temperature is to use a food thermometer. 

Using a food thermometer not only keeps your guests safe from harmful food bacteria, but it also helps you to avoid overcooking, giving you safe and flavorful meat. Different meats have different minimum cooking temperatures, so check the Minimum Cooking Temperatures chart to be sure.

Follow the game plan for a winning tailgate

When you plan your party, use this checklist to pack your gear:

• Clean: Soap, water (if none is available at the site), wet disposable cloths or moist toilettes, hand sanitizer
• Separate: Separate plates and utensils for raw meats and cooked meats
• Cook: Grill, fuel, cooking utensils, food thermometer, Minimum Cooking Temperatures chart
• Chill: Coolers, ice or frozen gel packs, clean containers for storing leftovers

For more information about keeping bacteria away on the big game day, check out these resources:

• Tailgating Food Safety Q&A
• Podcast: Tailgating Food Safety  |  Read the script
• Video: Food Safety Advice for Tailgating Parties

If you have any questions about tailgating food safety, feel free to contact us at the Hotline (1-888-674-6854 toll-free) or online at AskKaren.gov.

Keep School Lunches Safe

As children head back to school this fall, parents and caretakers may wonder, “What’s the most important thing that the kids should take to school with them?” From my perspective as a food safety specialist, I’d recommend an insulated lunch box as the best investment of the school year. For a few dollars, an insulated lunch box can keep children healthy and engaged to learn by protecting them from foodborne illness.

If you pack perishable food in an old-fashioned brown paper bag, it can be unsafe to eat by lunchtime. When children are sent home sick or stay home because of illness, it’s difficult for them to succeed in their school work.

Insulated lunch boxes help maintain food at a safe temperature until lunchtime. Perishable lunch foods, such as cold cut sandwiches and yogurt, can be left out at room temperature for only 2 hours before they may become unsafe to eat. But, with an insulated lunch box and a chilled freezer gel pack, perishable food can stay cold and safe to eat until lunch.

Why keep food cold? Harmful bacteria multiply rapidly in the "Danger Zone" — the temperatures between 40 and 140 °F. So, perishable food transported without a cold source won't stay safe long.

Here are some other tips to keep food safe until lunchtime:

• Clean Hands: Always make sure your hands are clean before preparing lunches. And, make sure your children understand that they need to wash their hands thoroughly before eating lunch or snacks. “Washing hands thoroughly” means using soap and warm water, and rubbing hands for 20 seconds (the time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice). If water is not available, provide moist towelettes or hand sanitizing gels in the lunch box.
• Freeze your juice box: You can freeze juice boxes and use them as freezer packs. By lunchtime, the juice should be thawed and ready to drink.
• Hot Foods: To keep hot foods hot, use an insulated bottle like a thermos for foods such as soup, chili, or stew.
• Non-Perishable Food: Some food is safe without a cold source. Lunch items that don't need to be refrigerated include whole fruits and vegetables, hard cheese, canned meat and fish, chips, breads, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, mustard, and pickles.

If the lunch box comes home with food in it, make sure to throw away any perishable food items, because they have been unrefrigerated too long!

If you have any other questions about packing lunches safely or have other food safety questions, feel free to contact us at the Hotline (1-888-674-6854 toll-free) or online at AskKaren.gov.