Fire 'em up! 5 rules to grill by - KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, Sports

By Eve Glicksman, Staff Writer, myOptumHealth

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Every summer, you fire up the backyard barbecue and slap on that all-American favorite - the burger. It's no picnic, though, if you end up with an undercooked hamburger. Ground beef is a happy hunting ground for the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria, a leading cause of food poisoning. Hotdogs don't carry the same high risk because they are usually cured and vacuum-packed.

Make sure your cookout doesn't turn into a medical calamity. Follow the guidelines for safe grilling.

Shopping tips

Safety starts at the grocery store.

• Before you go shopping, put a cooler containing an ice pack in your car.
• Wait till just before checking out to pick up your ground beef.
• Select your meat from the back of the refrigerated case and from the bottom of the stack, where the temperature is lowest.
• If the package is wet or sticky or the date has expired, don't buy it.
• Put your package of beef into a plastic bag, and close it with a twist-tie.
• At checkout, make sure the beef is bagged separately from your other groceries.
• Put the bag of beef into the cooler in your car. Drive straight home.
• Put the meat in the refrigerator as soon as you get home.

Let's get cooking

Before the day of your cookout, make sure you have a food thermometer. Research shows that one of every four hamburgers turns brown during cooking before it is safe enough to eat. Using a thermometer is the only way to be sure that meat is cooked properly.

The other hard and fast rule for safe grilling is to wash your hands, utensils and work surfaces every step of the way with soap and water. That means before and after raw or partially cooked meat has touched a spatula, plate, finger, counter or food thermometer.

Additional rules to grill by:

1) If you are using frozen meat, defrost it in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours before you plan to use it. Never defrost at room temperature. If you forget this step, defrost the meat in the microwave and then cook it right away.

2) Fire up the barbecue before you prepare the patties so it's hot when you're ready to cook. Before you handle the beef, wash your hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds and then dry with a paper towel.

3) Place the raw patties on the grill and don't let them touch any other foods there. To avoid cross-contamination, don't reuse the plate that held the raw patties.

4) When it's time to flip the burgers, use a clean spatula that hasn't come into contact with the raw meat. Make sure to wash it or get a new utensil to remove the burgers when they're done.

5) Check each burger after 10 to 15 minutes by placing a digital meat thermometer in the thickest part for 15 seconds. The burger is safe and ready to eat if the temperature is 160 degrees F or higher. The same goes for hotdogs. It's best to avoid rare or even medium-rare burgers.

And lastly, get 'em while they're hot! Don't let burgers sit out for longer than two hours, and not for more than one hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees F.

View the original Fire 'em up! 5 rules to grill by article on myOptumHealth.com 

SOURCES:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Escherichia coli. Accessed: 05/05/2008
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition. Outdoor eating food safety tips. Accessed: 05/05/2008
• USDA. Is it done yet? Accessed: 05/05/2008