Whether you’re packing a picnic or heading to the park for a barbecue, use these tips to make sure your food is safe to eat:

1. Keep perishables cold. Use a cooler filled with ice or ice packs to keep food cool. Store food in the passenger section of your car instead of in your trunk when traveling. Higher temperatures in the trunk can make food spoil faster.
2. Use multiple coolers to prevent the spread of bacteria. Use one cooler for raw meat, another for cooked or ready-to-eat food and a third cooler for beverages. In the cooler, keep meat in separate bags to prevent cross-contamination and stack chicken on the bottom, ground beef in the middle and steak, pork and fish on top.
3. Bring a food thermometer to check meat temperature when grilling. Chicken and hotdogs should reach 165^oF, hamburgers should be cooked to a minimum of 155^oF, and steak, pork and fish should reach an internal temp of 145^o.
4. Watch the clock when food is sitting out. No matter how much fun you may be having, it’s important to pay attention to how long food is sitting out without being cooled. Perishable food should never reach a temperature above 70^o. If it does, it should be thrown out immediately. Two hours is a good indicator of how long cold food can be left unrefrigerated. If outdoor temps soar above 90^oF, it’s better to get that food into a cooler within an hour or less.
5. Pack hand sanitizer or moist towelettes for cleaning hands. These will help keep hands clean even if there’s no water available.
6. When repacking food to head home, choose your cooler wisely. Don’t put anything you plan on eating again in a cooler that previously contained raw meat. Bacteria still inside the cooler may contaminate the food.

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