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Consumer Centre > Food Safety Tips Picnicking, Hiking & Camping Food Safety Tips
Preventing foodborne illness
How safe is your picnic?
Picnics in the park . . .
Hiking in the woods . . .
Campsite barbecues . . .
Everyone loves eating outdoors . . . but it can be a food safety challenge because you
don’t have a proper kitchen!
Control the temperature!
When we’re outdoors, we can’t control the weather – but we CAN
control the temperature of our food and prevent foodborne illness! The rules are simple.
Hot food must be kept hot at or above 60°C (140°F), and cold food must be kept cold at
or below 4°C (40°F). There’s no middle ground.
Keep food out of the temperature danger zone of 4°C to 60°C (40°F to 140°F).
Bacteria can grow in this temperature range. After only two hours, your food can become
dangerous. When in doubt - throw it out! Play it “food safe” this summer - and
all year long!
Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of your food. See
table.
| Foodsafe tip: When transporting food to picnic sites, it
can be difficult to keep food hot, so keep it cold instead, then heat it up when you get
to your destination! |
Five easy “cooler safety” tips
- Take perishable food in a cooler that keeps food cold at or below 4°C
(40°F). Food safety experts recommend using freezer ice packs because they drip less.
Loose ice or cubes can melt, then drip and possibly transfer contaminants from one food to
another. If you use loose ice, store everything in sealed containers to prevent
cross-contamination!
| Foodsafe tip: Frozen juice boxes make excellent ice packs
for small lunch packs. Kids will love drinking the juice slush when the juice boxes thaw! |
- Refrigerate or freeze food, if possible, the day before you pack it.
This way it’s already cold when you put it in the cooler.
- Place your cooler in the coolest part of your vehicle when you’re
travelling. On hot days, use the car’s air conditioning, if you can, to keep food
cool.
- Keep the cooler out of the sun and keep the lid closed as often as you
can. You may want to use two coolers – one for drinks (since it may be opened more
often) and another for food.
| Foodsafe tip: Cover the cooler with a blanket to help
keep it cool. |
- Separate raw food from cooked food. Place raw meat and poultry in
sealed containers and pack them at the bottom of the cooler to keep their juices from
dripping onto other food. Or better yet, pack raw meat in a separate cooler.
Keep CLEAN!
- Clean utensils, plates and trays after each use. Don’t forget to wash and sanitize
inside the cooler before and after each use.
- Follow the same handwashing rules outdoors as you do at home. Bring some soap and wash
your hands with clean, safe water for at least 20 seconds.
Handwashing checklist
Always wash after you:
- touch raw meat, poultry or seafood
- touch raw fruits and vegetables
- use the washroom
- change a diaper
- touch an animal
- touch any dirty surface
|
| Foodsafe tip: Save yourself some time and some effort by
washing fruits and vegetables before you leave home. |
SEPARATE for safety!
- To prevent raw meat, poultry or seafood from contaminating other food while you’re
preparing them, pack two sets of utensils and two cutting boards. Use one set for raw food
and the other for ready-to-eat or cooked food. Bring a bag to store the used items to
prevent them from cross-contaminating the clean items.
COOK thoroughly!
- By cooking your food to a safe internal temperature, you can destroy any harmful
bacteria that might be present. Use a food thermometer to check the inside temperature of
the food to find out if it’s cooked to a high enough temperature to be safe to eat.
Proper cooking helps prevent foodborne illness. Using a food thermometer also helps you
prevent overcooking.
- Precook and chill meat at home when possible, and reheat on site to 74° C (165° F).
This will help save time, prevent flaring and undercooking.
| When is my food ready to eat? |
| Food |
Temperature |
| fully cooked and ready-to-eat meats (e.g. ham, roast) |
You can eat it cold or you can heat it. |
| beef and veal steaks and roasts |
63°C (145°F) medium-rare
71°C (160°F) medium
77°C (170°F) well done |
| pork chops, ribs, roasts; ground beef, ground pork and ground veal, including sausages
made with ground beef/pork/veal |
71°C (160°F) |
| stuffing and casseroles, hot dogs, leftovers, egg dishes; ground chicken and ground
turkey, including sausages made with ground chicken/turkey |
74°C (165°F) |
| chicken and turkey breasts, legs, thighs and wings |
74°C (165°F) |
| chicken and turkey, whole bird |
85°C (185°F) |
Take care with drinking water!
Even when lakes and rivers look clean, the water may be dangerous to drink. Drink
bottled water or tap water from a clean, safe source. (Remember to clean your water
bottles and containers after each use!)
| Foodsafe tip: Use only safe drinking water for washing
food, washing dishes and brushing teeth. |
If required, you can purify water by boiling for one minute. If boiling is not
possible, use water purification tablets and/or water filters. Follow package directions.
How to purify water by boiling
- Let suspended particles settle or strain the water through coffee filters.
- Bring the water to a rolling boil and continue to boil for at least one minute.
|
Safeguarding Canada's Food Supply
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is the Government of Canada’s
science-based regulator for animal health, plant protection and, in partnership with
Health Canada, food safety.
For more information on food safety or to order free copies of this brochure, visit the
CFIA website at www.inspection.gc.ca or
call 1 800 442-2342/TTY 1 800 465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time,
Monday to Friday). You can also find food safety information on the Health
Canada and Canadian
Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education websites respectively at
www.hc-sc.gc.ca and www.canfightbac.org.
Cat. no.: A104-10/2005E
ISBN: 0-662-41095-5
P0232E-05/06
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