By Carol Johnson
Most people don't know it, but thousands of people each year are injured or sickened because of throwing or attending a cookout. Besides the obvious dangers inherent in a pile of red-hot coals and unwieldy cooking implements, there are more subtle threats awaiting the unprepared.
Preparation can save your life. Most cookouts involve some amount of food preparation, from slicing, dicing, and chopping to skewering and seasoning. The most important thing you can do to be sure your food doesn't make people sick is to keep your work areas and tools clean, and be careful how you handle raw meat. Cutting boards or work surfaces used for raw meat preparation must be thoroughly cleaned with antibacterial soap before you use them to handle vegetables.
Cross-contamination can occur when cooked food or raw food comes in contact with raw meat, either directly or by the use of improperly cleaned tools or work areas. There is a whole plate full of diseases that can be caused by cross-contamination, including salmonella, listeria, and ptomaine. All such ailments can be easily prevented by keeping things clean.
One cross-contamination risk that most people don't stop to think about involves cooking implements. You should never use the same implement all the way through the cooking process on the grill. Throw the meat on, cook it a bit, turn it a couple of times, then either wash the implement or start fresh with a clean one. Some people even label their cookout implements or buy two sets with different-colored handles, to help keep track while cooking.
Temperature control is a key ingredient. The biggest culprit when it comes to cookout-related illnesses is not paying enough attention to food temperature. Bacteria thrive in an environment that is between 45 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is essential that foods-particularly raw meats and blended meat salads-not sit in that temperature danger zone for long. In just three to four hours, something as unassuming as chicken salad can become a big bowl of diarrhea and vomiting for anyone who partakes. It's also important to be sure meat is cooked to that temperature range before you let it cool down and serve it.
The same holds true for raw meat. Beef that has been allowed to rise to room temperature grills better, but setting your steaks out the night before won't make them grill extra specially better. Chicken is especially sensitive, and should be grilled pretty quickly after removing it from the refrigerator. If you're doing multiple batches of chicken or beef, you can finish the first batches and keep them warm in a 200-degree oven while cooking the next batches. The most dangerous of all meats when it comes to temperature sensitivity, though, is seafood. Fish and seafood of all types should go straight from refrigerator to grill, with only a brief stop for seasoning or skewering.
Be sure leftovers don't leave you sick. Preparing the food correctly, cooking it correctly, and keeping things clean may make your cookout a success, but leftovers can leave a bad taste in your mouth if they aren't handled properly as well. The temperature zone that bacteria thrive in-between 45 and 140 degrees-is the same temperature zone most people like their food to be when they eat it. So after you finish eating, don't' let the food sit around and invite bacteria in while you sit around and invite the neighbors over for a game of badminton. Bacteria multiply quickly if left alone in their favorite temperature zone, so get those leftovers into a cold refrigerator as soon as your cookout is over.
Summer and fall are the high season for grilling, so be sure that you do all you can to keep your grilling season a happy one.
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