Warmer weather brings on an increase of food borne illness during the summer months – better known to the general population as “food poisoning.” Many bacteria in foods and the environment can grow very fast at temperatures from 90°F to 110°F. These temperatures are typical summer temperatures in Florida, so picnics and grilling outdoors only increases the potential for illness. Because bacteria is invisible, it is hard to convenience people their summer meals served outdoors need special care. Amy Simonne, UF Extension Specialist in Food Safety and Quality, has a few suggestions for summer food safety.
• Wash your hands with clean potable water and soap often, especially before eating or preparing food.
• If there is no clean water to wash your hands, use alcohol-based gel to clean your hands.
• Keep the hand sanitizers away from small children and follow directions carefully.
• When temperatures are above 90°F, perishable foods should not be left out for more than one hour.
• Safe shelf-life of perishable food is a combination of time and temperature. Discard your perishable foods if it has been on a picnic table for a long time. If in doubt, throw it out!
• Ice is a food, handle it as you would handle foods. Ice that is used for cooling drinks and other foods should not be used in your drink because it is easily contaminated with juice from raw meat or dirt from items that have not been washed. Put perishable food on ice in one cooler and carry a separate cooler of ice for beverage cups.
• If your family enjoys eating homemade ice cream in the summer, find recipes without raw eggs. A recipe using eggs should have steps for cooking the egg mixture before it is put into the ice cream churn.
• Follow safe handling of fresh fruits and vegetables to reduce the risk of food borne illness. Fruits like cantaloupes and watermelons should be rinsed under running water before slicing to eliminate any dirt.
• At family picnics, teach your children and family members the importance of good personal hygiene and serving etiquette to prevent some potential cross-contamination of germs from your hand to others!
For more information on food safety or nutrition, contact the Madison County Extension Service at 973-4138. The University of Florida Extension/IFAS Extension – Madison County is an Equal Opportunity Institution.