Cooking out for Labor Day? Don’t forget food safety!

 In recognition of National Food Safety Month, the Peoria City/County Health Department offers some safety tips to cook, serve, and save food at your picnics and cookouts this Labor Day weekend. Keep food borne illness away by following these tips for packing the perfect cooler and grilling food for the perfect cookout: 

• Bring one cooler for beverages and a separate cooler for food to maintain proper food temperatures since beverage coolers are opened more frequently.
•  Pack your food cooler with ice packs along with loose ice so that it will remain below 41°F, reducing the risk for harmful bacteria to grow. 
• Use a metal stemmed thermometer when grilling meat to ensure proper internal temperatures are reached. Chicken (poultry) should be grilled to at least a minimum of 165° F, pork to 155°F, and beef or hamburgers to 145°F. 
• Use separate utensils for raw foods and cooked foods to avoid cross-contamination. 
• To save leftovers, immediately put perishable food away in a cooler containing ice or ice packs. 
• Discard any leftovers that have been outside for more than two hours; however, if the temperature exceeds 90°F, discard food left out after one hour. When in doubt, throw it out!

 For more information on important Public Health issues, visit the Peoria City/County Health Department website at www.pcchd.org.

The Peoria City/County Health Department continues efforts to improve community health in Peoria County with the overarching goal “to increase the number of people who are healthy at every stage of life.”