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Tips For Safe Food To Go (FSIS) For bag lunches, picnics, or celebrations away from home, food can be kept safe if it is first handled and cooked safely. Then, keeping food cold while transporting and serving, as well as practicing safe grilling techniques, can prevent foodborne illness. Beginning with Safe Food Perishable food must be kept cold or frozen at the store and at home. In between, the food should be at room temperature or in the car as little time as possible. Then it must be kept cold or cooked and chilled. Food should not be out of the refrigerator or oven longer than 2 hours. If cooking foods beforehand--such as turkey, ham, chicken, and vegetable or pasta salads- -prepare them in plenty of time to thoroughly chill in the refrigerator. Divide large amounts of food into small containers for fast chilling and easier use. Keep cooked foods refrigerated until time to leave home. Packing for Outings If taking food away from home--on a picnic, for example--try to plan just the right amount of perishable foods to take. That way, you won't have to worry about the storage or safety of leftovers. Items which don't require refrigeration include fruits, vegetables, hard cheese, canned meat or fish, chips, bread, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, mustard, and pickles. You don't need to pack them in a cooler. It's perfectly safe to store uncooked patties as well as raw steaks, ribs, chops, and raw poultry in the refrigerator for a day or so until ready to pack the cooler. If marinating meat and poultry, store it in the refrigerator -- not on the counter. If you plan to use some of the marinade as a sauce, reserve a portion before putting raw meat in it. Don't reuse the marinade from meat unless it's boiled first to destroy any bacteria that may have been on the raw meat. Purchasing Take-Out Foods If you're planning on purchasing take-out foods such as fried chicken or barbecued beef, eat them within 2 hours of pickup. Otherwise, buy cooked foods ahead of time to chill before packing them into the cooler. Keeping Cold Food Cold After estimating the amount of food which needs to be kept cold, pack an insulated cooler with sufficient ice or gel packs to keep the food at 40 °F. Pack food right from the refrigerator or freezer into it. Why? Bacteria grow and multiply rapidly in the danger zone between 40°F and 140°F (out of the refrigerator or before food begins to cook). So, food transported without an ice source or left out in the sun at a picnic won't stay safe long. If packing a bag lunch or lunch box, it's fine to prepare the food the night before and store the packed lunch in the refrigerator. To keep the lunch cool away from home, pack a small frozen gel pack or frozen juice box. Of course, if there's a refrigerator at work, store perishable items there upon arrival. Leftover perishables which have been kept refrigerated should be safe to take home. But once gel packs and other cold sources melt, perishables are not safe -- discard them. When taking food to a picnic, don't put the cooler in the trunk; carry it inside the air- conditioned car. At the picnic, keep the cooler in the shade. Keep the lid closed and avoid repeated openings. Replenish the ice if it melts. Serving Food Except when served, the food should be stored in a cooler. Just like a refrigerator at home when the power is off, the more times you open a cooler, the more cold air will escape. Once the ice melts, the cooler won't be able to keep food safe. Keep cold drinks in a separate cooler to avoid constantly opening the one containing perishable foods. If you've packed cooked foods in several small containers, you can serve one and keep the others cold for second helpings. Leave raw meat in the cooler, too. When cooking it, remove from the cooler only the amount that will fit on the grill. |
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