Safe Cooking & Grilling Recommendations

Safe Grilling and Food Safety Tips

Use the following guidelines to keep the beef on your family's table safe:

Food safety recommendations:

• Take meat and poultry straight home from the store. Do not leave it in a hot car. Refrigerate beef within a half hour after leaving the store.
• Before and after handling raw ground meat and poultry, wash hands and all utensils that have touched raw meat with soap and warm water.
• Be sure the ground meat meat patties are cooked to 160 degrees or until the centers and juices are a golden amber. Use an instant read thermometer to measure the temperature. Cook burgers until the center is brown and the juices are clear, if no thermometer is available.
• Beef steaks and roasts may be eaten with pink centers if they are cooked to 145 degrees. Any bacteria on the meat surface is killed with cooking. Ground meats must be cooked more thoroughly because of the mixing and grinding process.
• Put cooked burgers on a clean plate after grilling; don’t use the same platter and utensils for handling raw and cooked meat.
• Do not let food sit out for longer than two hours. Warm temperatures or an outdoor barbecue require that cold foods be kept cold in an insulated chest.
• Fresh produce should be washed with cool water before consumption. Peeling and cooking are the best ways to eliminate bacteria in produce.

For more information to make cooking and grilling safe and enjoyable, contact the Minnesota Beef Council, 2850 Metro Drive, Suite 426, Bloomington, MN 55425.