Partnership for Food Safety Education

FightBAC!

Celebrating Black History Month

Black History Month is a time to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of Black Americans and honor their pivotal role in shaping U.S. history.

In celebration of Black History Month, the Partnership will be highlighting some favorite foods of these past and present leaders.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Table: Breaking Bread in Troubled Times” (The National Gallery of Art)

President Barack & Michelle Obama

Learn more about President Barack and Michelle Obama online at their official website.

Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman & George Washington Carver

Food Safety During Severe Weather

During a power outage, the clock starts ticking on the safety of your perishable foods. If you are aware of an approaching storm, tornado, hurricane or high electricity use, you can be prepared.

Before the Storm

  • If you can prepare in advance, make sure you are using appliance thermometers in your fridge and freezer.
  • Have a cooler or two at the ready, filled with ice or several frozen gel packs.
  • Research where dry ice or block ice are available near you.


During the Storm

  • Once the power goes out, be mindful of time and temperature.
  • Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed.
  • Your refrigerator will hold a safe temperature for about four hours.
  • Your freezer, if packed full, will hold food at a safe temperature for about 48 hours with no power — at half full, the time decreases to 24 hours.
  • Food is safe to refreeze if it still has ice crystals or if the freezer did not rise above 40 °F.


After the Storm

  • When the power is back on, check the temperature inside your freezer and refrigerator by looking at the thermometer.
  • If the temperature is still 0 ⁰F or below for freezer and 40 ⁰F or below for refrigerator, your food should be fine.
  • NEVER taste food to determine its safety.
  • The following foods are safe if held above 40 ⁰F for more than 2 hours: hard cheeses, grated Parmesan cheese, butter or margarine, opened fruit juices, jelly, relish, taco sauce, mustard, ketchup, olives, pickles, and Worcestershire, soy, barbecue and Hoisin sauces, peanut better, opened vinegar-based dressing, bread products, breakfast breads, fruit pies, fresh mushrooms, herbs, spices, uncut raw vegetables and fruit.
  • What you should throw out: meat, poultry or seafood products; soft cheeses and shredded cheeses; milk, cream, yogurt, and other dairy products; opened baby formula; eggs and egg products; dough, cooked pasta; cooked or cut produce.


After a Flood

  • Do not eat any food that may have touched flood water.
  • Discard food that is not in waterproof containers; screw-caps, snap lids, pull tops, and crimped tops are not waterproof.
  • Discard cardboard juice/milk/baby formula boxes and home-canned foods.
  • Discard any damaged cans that have swelling, leakage, punctures, holes, fractures, extensive deep rusting, or crushing/denting severe enough to prevent normal stacking or opening.
  • Mix a sanitizing solution of 1 Tablespoon of unscented bleach with one gallon of water to disinfect pots, pans, dishes, utensils, and undamaged all-metal cans after removing the label. Relabel with a permanent marker.


Preparing for disasters in advance is helpful to provide peace of mind. Knowing how to manage our food supply before, during and after a disaster will be essential to living.

For more information contact your local extension office or check out PFSE resources.

 ** Reprinted from Idaho State Journal. **

Hot Off the Grill: Home Grilling Safety Tips

Families are doing more grilling this year. Nielsen reported that fresh meat alternative sales increased 255% in the last week of March (compared to the same week in 2019), fully outpacing the growth of meat sales, which increased 53% over the same period.

Fight BAC! is here to help you out with a few essential tips on handling meat safely, and how grilling safely at home can keep you and your family healthy.

Clean hands & surfaces

Washing your hands and surfaces the correct way will help reduce the risk of harmful germs:

  • Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.
  • Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
  • Do not rinse raw meat or poultry before cooking it. This is not a safety step, and it could spread dangerous germs around your kitchen.


Thawing meat

woman and daughter washing at kitchen sinkYou may be buying more meats in bulk right now and freezing for later use. Make sure to thaw meats properly:

  • Never let raw meat, poultry, eggs, cooked food or cut fresh fruits or vegetables sit at room temperature more than two hours before putting them in the refrigerator or freezer (one hour when the temperature is above 90°F).
  • Never thaw food at room temperature. Food must be kept at a safe temperature during thawing.
  • There are three safe ways to defrost food: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Food thawed in cold water or in the microwave should be cooked immediately

Marinades

Everyone loves a good marinade! Make sure to safely marinate and store your meat:

  • Always marinate foods in the refrigerator, not on the counter or outdoors.
  • Don’t use sauce that was used to marinate raw meat or poultry on cooked food.
  • Reserve a portion of the unused marinade to use as a sauce.

Grilling temps

meat thermometer checking grilled meatWhen it’s time to grill the food, cook it to a safe internal temperature for safety and quality. Use a food thermometer to be sure! 

  • Beef, pork, veal and lamb (roast, steaks and chops): 145 °F with a three-minute “rest time” after removal from the heat source
  • Ground meats: 160 °F
  • Poultry (whole, parts or ground): 165 °F
  • Eggs and egg dishes: 160 °F, but cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm; scrambled eggs should not be runny
  • Fin fish: 145 °F
  • Shrimp, lobster and crabs: flesh pearly and opaque
  • Clams, oysters and mussels: shells open during cooking
  • Scallops: milky white, opaque and firm
Download the Safe Minimal Internal Temperatures Chart

Avoid cross-contamination

chicken and produce kept separate on counterCross-contamination is how harmful bacteria can be spread. Improper handling of raw meat, poultry or seafood can create an inviting environment for cross-contamination:

  • Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry or seafood.
  • Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood.
  • Be sure to have plenty of clean utensils and platters on hand.

Leftovers

After the meal, remember to handle leftovers safely to prevent foodborne illness:

  • Plan on enough storage space in the refrigerator and freezer. In the refrigerator, air needs to circulate to keep the temperature at 40 °F or below. Use an appliance thermometer in your refrigerator to monitor the temperature.
  • Divide large amounts of leftovers into shallow containers for quicker cooling in the refrigerator.
  • Leftovers stored in the refrigerator should be consumed within 3-4 days
  • Reheat leftovers to 165 °F before eating.

woman washing vegetables in kitchenTo help you Fight BAC!® (harmful bacteria) this grilling season, we’ve collected five grilling recipes with built-in food safety and hand hygiene steps.

Check out food safety videos on grilling and safe food preparation on the Food Safety YouTube channel.

Have a happy and safe grilling season!

Shawnte Loeri is the Communications Associate with the Partnership for Food Safety Education. She can be reached at sloeri@fightbac.org.

Lisa’s Table Is All About Safe Dinners

Meet Lisa

Lisa Treiber is a dedicated BAC Fighter who is passionate about keeping her community safe. She is an Extension Agent at Michigan State University, and she regularly uses Fight BAC! resources in her curriculum.

Lisa values raising awareness around safe food handling practices. Throughout the semester she teaches courses that remind students how to stay healthy. She also shares The Story of Your Dinner resources — particularly around the holiday season. She has done this for many years and has noticed that her community responds positively to it.

Lisa’s Table Spreads Awareness for the Holidays

This past holiday season, Lisa dedicated a table to food safety in the atrium of the Midland County Building Department. She enlarged food safety tips from The Story of Your Dinner and made them into laminated tiles. The tiles were arranged to be easily read by anyone who passes through the building. Lisa is thankful for the clear messages on each tile like “Suds up for 20 seconds” and “Keep your refrigerator at 40 °F or below.”

Lisa went a step further and printed off recipes with food safety steps and left them on the table. She worked hard to emphasize the importance of food safety during the holiday season, and it was well received by her peers and community. She was pleasantly surprised to see over 50 recipes had been taken from the table by the diverse population that walks through the building.

Years of Community Engagement at the Table

This isn’t the first year Lisa has created a table display. A couple years ago, she increased community engagement by holding a drawing for those who stopped at the table. Over 75 people entered, and the winner received a fridge thermometer to ensure their fridge was at a food-safe temperature. The county health department sanitarian workers who approved the display said that it was “wonderful.”

Lisa feels that with the number of those who have responded each year, she is getting her message across and doing her part in spreading awareness to her community. She appreciates that the resources from the Partnership for Food Safety Education are diverse and can be easily tweaked to be used throughout the entire year.

Lisa Treiber is an Extension Agent at Michigan State University. She can be reached at treiber@msu.edu.

You can make sure families have the safe food handling information that they need to reduce their risk of food poisoning with a personal contribution today. Click here to make a gift.

Ventura County Environmental Health Greets Residents with Food Safety Every September

Every year in September the Ventura County (CA) Environmental Health Division sets up a food safety display in the lobby of the County Government Center Building. The lobby is often bustling with county residents.

This year the display featured the English and Spanish versions of the two-minute “Story of Your Dinner” video.

Residents could also pick up pamphlets from the department along with handouts from the Partnership for Food Safety Education, including the Food Safety Tips flyer and activity sheets for school-aged children.  The Four Core Practices – Clean, Separate, Cool, Chill – are an important part of the display every year.

“The Ventura County Environmental Health Division appreciates partnering with PFSE in the education of our county residents,” said Susan Seiler.

The goals of this annual display are public outreach and education about the importance of food safety and following the Four Core Practices at home and at work.

Susan Seiler is an environmental health specialist with the Ventura County Environmental Health Division. She can be reached at (805) 648-9245 or susan.seiler@ventura.org.