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It's picnic and barbeque season and one of our viewers wants to know, how can I keep
my food safe so I don't have the risk of food-borne illness? I love this question because it really
just takes a little attention to detail to keep your food safe. So remember, keep hot
food hot and cold food cold. What we want to do is use thermometers to make sure that
we don't let the food get in the danger zone. The danger zone is anywhere from 40° to 140°
farenheit. The reason it's a danger zone is because that's when bacteria can multiply.
So start at home with two coolers. Have one cooler for your beverages. Your beverages
are not suspect so you can keep the cans and bottles in icy water and go in and out as
many times as you want. But let's keep the other cooler packed solid with cold food so
that the food that went in there you took from your refrigerator at home nice and cold
and you put it in and packed it tightly because the more tightly you pack it can maintain
the temperature. Use ice blocks you can also make sure you have your thermometer and check
it. And keep that cooler under a shade tree and don't go in and out of there until you're
ready to eat. Then once you start serving your food, remember that you can only keep
your food out a maximum of two hours. And if it's 90° or hotter, you can only keep
it out for one hour. Otherwise you need to throw it away because of those bacteria that
multiply during the heat. So start with clean hands, I always bring some sanitizer with
me in case you can't find a place to wash your hands. Bring the sanitizer and I always
bring plastic cutting boards and I bring two of them because if you have raw meat that
you're putting on the barbeque, you certainly can't use that same cutting board for produce
or fruits and vegetables so always throw in two they have these great plastic ones that
you can buy. Keep your utensils clean, keep your hands clean and do the best you can to
try to keep that food only out in the environment for a limited amount time so you can enjoy
it. And pack it back up and put it under that shade tree and you'll be good to go and you'll
have a great happy holiday gathering without worrying about your guests getting sick.