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Consumer Centre > Food Safety Tips Barbecuing Food Safety Tips
Preventing foodborne illness
| While it's important to clean your barbecue grill before and after
each use, you may want to check that the barbecue cleaning brush has not left any metal
bristles on the grill. Recent reports have noted incidences where these metal bristles
have fallen out of the cleaning brush and adhered to food resulting in a choking danger
and other serious health consequences. |
|
The safe chef
Everybody loves a barbecue, but careful preparation is essential to preventing
foodborne illness. Follow these tips from Canada’s food safety experts. Play it
"food safe" this summer – and all year long!
Your Barbecue Food Safety Checklist
1. Get off to a CLEAN start!
- Handwashing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of foodborne illness. Have you
washed your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after
handling food? Wash again when you switch from one food to another.
- Are your countertops and utensils clean and sanitized? Sanitizing reduces bacteria and
can prevent foodborne illness.
BLEACH SANITIZER
- Combine 5 mL (1 tsp) of bleach with 750 mL (3 cups) of water in a labelled spray bottle.
- After cleaning, spray sanitizer on the surface/utensil and let stand briefly.
- Rinse with lots of clean water, and air dry (or use clean towels).
|
| Foodsafe tip: Washing raw meat is not recommended since it may lead
to cross contamination of nearby surfaces and food. |
2. CHILL out by the BBQ!
- Keep food cool at or below 4ºC (40ºF). It’s best to keep perishable food in the
fridge or cooler until you are ready to cook it or eat it. Bacteria can grow and
"spoil" food left in the temperature danger zone (4º to 60ºC/40º to 140ºF)
for more than two hours.
- Keep the cooler cool. Pack the cooler with freezer packs to keep the temperature at or
below 4ºC (40ºF). Keep the cooler in the shade, and cover it with a blanket for added
insulation!
| Foodsafe tip: You may want to use two coolers – one for drinks
(since it may get opened more often) and another for food. |
3. COOK safely!
- Have a digital food thermometer handy. Prevent foodborne illness by cooking food to a
safe internal temperature. Food safety experts say food thermometers are the only way to
cook foods safely without overcooking!
- Keep hot food hot at or above 60ºC (140ºF) to prevent the growth of bacteria and
reduce the chance of foodborne illness.
| When is my food ready to eat? |
| Food |
Temperature |
| fully cooked and ready-to-eat meats (e.g. ham) |
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) |
71°C (160°F) |
stuffing and casseroles, hot dogs, leftovers, egg dishes;
ground chicken and ground turkey (including sausages) |
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) |
4. SEPARATE raw and cooked food!
- Raw food can cross-contaminate cooked food and cause foodborne illness. Keep raw and
cooked food separate and covered.
| Foodsafe tip: Before marinating meat, set some marinade aside in the
fridge so you can use it later to baste meat or as a dipping sauce. It’s best not to
use leftover marinade from the raw food on the cooked food. |
- Have clean plates and cooking utensils ready. Never use the same plate, tray or utensils
for raw and cooked food. Raw meat juices can spread bacteria to your safely cooked food
and cause foodborne illness!
Six easy tips for safe leftovers
- Cool food quickly to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria! To speed
up the cooling process of large pots of food, place the pot in a sinkful of ice-water and
stir it occasionally.
- Store food in shallow containers. Cover
containers when cool to prevent cross-contamination.
- Refrigerate as soon as possible! If food is held in the danger zone
(4°C to 60°C / 40° to 140°F) for two hours or longer, don’t keep it as leftovers.
You can’t tell if food is safe by looking, smelling or tasting it. Remember, when in
doubt, throw it out! On hot summer days, don’t hold food at room
temperature for more than one hour.
- Do not overstuff the fridge! Cool air needs to circulate around the
food.
- Eat properly handled leftovers within two to three days for best
quality and safety. Reheat leftovers to 74°C (165°F).
- Freeze leftovers right away if you don’t think you’ll eat
them within two to three days.
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.: A104-9/2005E
ISBN: 0-662-41096-3
P0060E-05/06 |
