Fall Food Safety Tips

Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on September 13, 2024

We are about the enter the favorite time of year for so many people. I am personally here for every bit of fall after it seems that summer was miserably hot this year. Summer 2024 just seemed to fly by and I hope to enjoy fall a bit more. Today we are going to look at some fall food safety tips to keep everyone as safe as possible as we are leaf peeping and enjoying all things pumpkin, bonfire, hay ride and anything in between. Best of all I literally can’t wait for college football and a nice warm bowl of chili!

Did you know that 97% of people who are preparing food do not wash their hands properly or not at all? This is quite shocking to me, but has been proven over and over. I think covid and the shortage of hand soap should have taught us that people were definitely not washing their hands nearly enough before the pandemic. This poor hand hygiene caused participants to cross-contaminate other spice containers, refrigerator handles, even ready-to-eat foods and other areas of their kitchen with a harmless tracer bacteria. Make sure you wash your hands for a full 20 seconds and dry them with a clean towel. For certain activities where a sink with running water is not available, you can use disposable moist towelettes to get your hands nice and clean.

Here are some tips for your specific fall fun activities:

Outdoors (Hiking, Camping and Apple Picking):

• Have a cold source for your perishable items to prevent bacteria from multiplying to dangerous levels.
  • Frozen gel packs or frozen water bottles work well as cold sources.
• Pack non-perishable items for easy grab-and-go options.
  • Trail mix, energy bars, granola bars, canned tuna, etc.

This is officially tailgate season so we have to remember our tailgate food safety tips too!

• Oftentimes when heading to a tailgate, you’ll need to pack foods that you want to grill later in a cooler. When packing the cooler with these items, make sure you’re packing the cooler with ice or frozen gel packs.
  • To prevent cross-contamination, wrap raw meat and poultry items separately and place at the bottom of the cooler to avoid having juices drip on ready-to-eat foods.
• Remember your food thermometer! A USDA study shows that 66% of participants did not use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature. The only way to know if your food is safe to eat is using the food thermometer to check the internal temperatures. Color and touch are never an indication of doneness.
  • If grilling or cooking meat or poultry at your tailgate, make sure you are cooking it thoroughly.
  • Foods will brown faster on a grill, but color is never an indicator of doneness, so make sure you are using a food thermometer to check that it has been cooked to the correct minimum internal temperature.

What about the pot luck dinners?

• When serving foods at your potluck, remember to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
  • Keep hot items hot by using a slow cooker on the “warm” or “low” setting, or use chafing dishes with a heat source.
  • Keep cold items, like dips, cold by placing the serving dishes in a bed of ice.
• Consider putting foods out in batches to ensure they aren’t staying out longer than the two-hour time limit.

So many people assume cooler temperatures mean they can “slack off” on the food safety but I tend to practice the same tips year round just to keep myself accountable especially when we are hosting family members and friends for gatherings. There is nothing I love more than a fall get together where everyone can stay into the evening hours, add a hoodie and a camp fire (keep an eye out for an article about that, too) and just enjoy the company of those we love.

Be sure to follow Make Food Safe for more fun articles about the changing of the seasons and the foods we eat as well as information on food safety and recalls.