Once the weather turns warm, spending time at your local park for a picnic is a great outdoor activity. However, as you plan your next picnic, you need to be aware of some issues that could cause illness or injury. The primary key with picnic safety has to do the food preparation and transportation. Regardless of the occasion or the types of food being served, it would be worth your while to take a few precautions to avoid food borne illnesses.
•For starters, when temperatures are between 40 and 140 degrees, bacteria begins to multiply. Therefore, food should be kept hot or cold up to the very time you plan on grilling.
•Keep any perishable foods in a cooler that will maintain temperatures of 40 degrees. This would include things such as mayonnaise, butter, peanut butter, cheese, lunchmeats, and so on.
•Store your perishable foods in a separate cooler from the beverages.
•Take only enough food to be eaten on the picnic
• Never partially precook meat prior to taking it to the picnic site. If you have meat that needs to be precooked, we recommend you cook it until completely done and then place it in the cooler of 40 degrees or less.
•Rather than take entire jars of condiments to the picnic, purchase small packets or use small plastic containers.
•Keep your food and beverage coolers in the back seat of the car instead of the trunk, which is much hotter
• If you decide to pick up take-out food such as fried chicken, remember that the food should be consumed within a two-hour timeframe.
•For hot foods from home, wrap the baking dish in heavy-duty aluminum foil and dish towels. Then, use a special heat insulated carrying case so the food remains above the safe 140-degree mark.
•Be sure your hands are well washed prior to handling food or utensils
•Once meat has been grilled, transfer it to a clean platter, never using the same platter on which raw meat or poultry was placed prior to grilling.
•Be sure marinades are never reused if they have been in contact with raw meat or poultry
•Never place cooked food back into an unwashed container or dish containing the marinade