Food Safety

In response to consumer questions, here are some food safety tips:

CLEAN: Wash hands and surfaces often.

• Wash hands with soap and water before handling food.
• Always wash hands very well after handling raw meat, poultry or fish.
• Clean and sanitize counter tops, cutting boards and utensils with a mild bleach solution (1 tsp bleach in 3 cups of water) before and after food preparation.
• Wash all vegetables and fruit before cooking or eating.

CHILL: Refrigerate food products promptly.

• Keep meat in the refrigerator.
• Ground beef can be refrigerated for 1 day and beef cuts for 1-3 days. Freeze them for longer storage.
• Do not freeze meat that has been “previously frozen” or contains “previously frozen product.”
• Defrost meat in the refrigerator, or defrost in the microwave just before cooking. Do not defrost meat at room temperature.
• No time to defrost? Steaks and roasts can be cooked from frozen by adding 50% to the cooking time.
• Refrigerate leftovers within two hours.
• Foods should be kept at 4ºC (40ºF) or below.

COOK: Cook meat to the proper temperature.

• Always cook ground meat until it reaches a minimum internal temperature of 71° (160° F). Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature.
• Never eat raw meat.
• Buy a good quality, digital instant-read thermometer or thermometer fork that gives a temperature reading.
• Roasts and steaks can be enjoyed at rare and medium doneness as the high temperatures during cooking reduce any bacteria that may be on the surface of the meat.
• Cook ground beef until it reaches 71° C (160°F). Don’t rely on the ‘colour test’ to know when the burgers are done. Research shows that the colour of cooked ground beef can vary – burgers may be brown in the centre before being cooked to a safe temperature.
  

Temperature rules for cooking meat

SEPARATE Don’t cross-contaminate.

• Do not re-use knives, cutting boards, plates, etc. that have been in contact with raw meat until they have been thoroughly cleaned.
• Use a clean tray to transfer cooked meat from the barbecue. Never use the same platter that contained raw meat.
• Take care that the juices and marinades from meat and poultry do not drip onto other foods.
• Before marinating meat, set aside some marinade to be used for basting.