TYLER, Texas — With it being summer and the Fourth of July near, many are ready to gather outdoors for a cookout. However, are leftovers safe to eat? Here are some tips on how to keep your food safe to eat.
Tip #1
If you start eating at 3 p.m., make sure all the food is back in a temperature controlled environment by 5 p.m.
“You've actually got two hours to get the product from a 135-degree holding temperature down to 70 degrees Fahrenheit,” Director of Environmental Health at NetHealth, Ginger Points, said. “Germs grow the fastest between 70 degrees and 120 degrees. So you want to make sure you get through that zone and keep food out of that temperature danger zones because that's where the bad bugs that cause foodborne illness grow the quickest.”
Tip #2
Pack your produce and your meats separately.
“So that's planning, trying to plan your event," Points said. "Making sure that the foods that are brought out in the ice chest and the coolers are ice down really well. That you're not mixing ready to eat food items like your cheeses and your lettuce and tomatoes in the same cooler with the raw proteins, not even the same cooler.”
TIP #3
When fixing that to-go plate, make sure it is properly covered and quickly placed in the fridge.
“So within two hours of it leaving temperature control at the restaurant, you really want to have it back in your in the refrigerator at your house,” Points said. “So don't take it around town for very, very long at all. Without having some kind of temperature control going on.”
Experts say you can safely keep any food in the fridge for up to seven days after it has been cooked, as long as it is properly covered.
