Food safety tips for your summer BBQ

It may not be exactly a heatwave at the moment, but it's not raining so it is 'officially' BBQ weather. Here are safefood’s 7 top tips for a safe BBQ this summer:

1. Keep perishable foods like salads, coleslaw and quiche in your fridge until you are ready to serve them.

2. Burgers, sausages and kebabs, pork and poultry must be cooked all the way through – take your food off the heat, pop the thermometer in the thickest part of the meat and when it reaches 75 degrees Celsius, then it’s cooked and ready to eat. Steaks can be served 'rare' as harmful bacteria are on the outside only (and not in the centre).

3. If you like to marinate your meat, make sure any marinade used on raw meat is not then used as a sauce to coat vegetables or cooked meat as it will contain raw meat bacteria.

4. If you choose to barbeque any frozen food, it must be firstly completely thawed on the bottom shelf of your fridge before you cook it.

5. When handling raw meat and poultry, wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, most importantly before going on to prepare salads and other ready to eat foods.

6. Once your meat is cooked thoroughly, make sure to keep cooked meat separate from raw meat and to use separate chopping boards, cooking utensils and plates. Harmful bacteria in raw meat, poultry and their juices can cross contaminate cooked food and lead to food poisoning, something your family won’t thank you for.

7. If there are leftovers from your barbeque, allow the food to cool before refrigerating, however make sure to refrigerate food within two hours of cooking. Always remember with leftovers - if in doubt, throw it out.