Hi all, it’s time for my annual summer food safety review. Let’s learn to keep our friends and family safe from unsafe foods and potentially serious illnesses.

I do this every year. If you have paid attention, are a good little foodie, and follow all the food safety rules you can move along now. The rest of you need to read on to protect your friends and family. Please.

I don’t just “play a doctor” on this website. I’m a board-certified general pediatrician. I’m now retired after 38 years in practice.

After almost every major holiday, I would see several food poisonings in children. All of which are preventable. Fortunately, most cases are mild and self-limiting, which means they would go away by themselves. But a few were not.

This is E.coli 0157:H7, it is a common contaminate of ground meats and is one of the main reasons you need to be extra careful out there.

It can cause renal failure and even death. Not just a little stomach upset, it can kill you or your family and friends. There have been deaths this year, and it will happen again.

General  Food Safety Facts:

• Cross-contamination: the most common cause of foodborne illnesses, so keep food preparation away from serving areas.
• Unwashed hands and surfaces are an important cause of foodborne illnesses. Let’s clean it up and keep it clean.
• Bacteria multiply rapidly between 40 and 140 °F – to keep the danger foods outside of this range.
• Thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables since you have no idea where it has been.

Meat handling:

• Thaw all frozen meat in the refrigerator. About 5 hours per pound so plan ahead.
•  Marinate foods in the refrigerator, not on the counter.
• Toss away any used marinade. It is contaminated. You should reserve some unused marinade separately for cooking if needed.
• Wash everything that touched raw meat or poultry before using again.

Cooking temperatures: These are the minimum safe temperatures and are NOT NEGOTIABLE. I don’t care what Uncle Joe says, or some misinformed TV cook says. It is your responsibility to not cause food-related illness at your home. Just don’t serve Uncle Joe his undercooked burger.

A THERMOMETER IS REQUIRED EQUIPMENT!

Serving safely – you made it safe, let’s keep it safe.

Cold foods are safe:

• If set out then no longer than 2 hours in temperature under 90°F.
• Or 1 hour if the temperature is above 90°F.
• Or you can keep it cool to 40°F or less.

Hot food should be kept at or above 140°F.

Leftovers: Refrigerate or freeze leftover foods promptly. If over the time limits then discard.

Other Safety Issues

Since this is a cooking blog, I will concentrate on the food-related safety tips here, but there are many other safety issues other than food needed to keep them all safe. See the Red Cross for a good summary.

My list is just some basic reminders of food safety. For more food safety information, please check The FDA.

From “Hill Street Blues” Sergeant Phil Esterhaus:

Hey, let’s be careful out there.

Originally Published July 2, 2013, and updated yearly for republish.