4th of July Food Safety

We always hear warnings about 4th of July fireworks safety and most of us do a good job of following rules and keeping hands and fingers and faces away from explosions.

But the USDA says too many Americans fail to follow the same safe guidelines when it comes to 4th of July picnics and barbecues. In fact the 4th of July is the day more people complain of getting sick from some food related illness than any other day.

Janell Goodwin with USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says one thing to remember NOT to do is partially cook the meat at home the day before a barbecue at the park.

And that means dangerous bacteria will have a lot of time to grow on the burger or ribs. Too often the cut of meat isn't heated hot enough or long enough to kill all that bacteria. The other thing barbecue chefs forget to use is a meat thermometer.

That's the only way to know when a meat product is done, and once it reaches a safe temperature. For example, burgers you want to allow to reach 160 degrees. Once it reaches that then it's done and you can pull it off of the grill.

165 degrees for chicken and 145 for pork.

And one more reminder. After the cookout any leftovers should be refrigerated as soon as possible.

On any day the longest any food should sit out is 2 hours.

The USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline is 1-888-MP HOTLINE