We’ve all been there. It’s 85 degrees on a sunny Saturday afternoon and sitting out in the hot sun is a container full of potato salad. Looking down the table, the Jell-O mold of a football helmet looks more like an alien creature. Even worse, flies swarm over the leftover brats from the grill. And it’s still a couple of hours before kickoff.
Invariably, the tailgate party reaches critical mass. Guests stop eating your homemade ranch dressing and begin whispering to themselves while sticking to the one bag of potato chips. And then it happens—someone eats something they soon regret.
The tailgate is now one for the memory books, but for all the wrong reasons. How do you stop this fiasco from happening again?
The Danger Zone
It’s all about food temperatures. Don’t let raw meat and cold food get too hot, hot food get too cold, and cooked food out of the danger zone. That food safety danger zone actually applies to all three categories, because when any of them reach between 41°F and 135°F, bacteria flourishes, and that’s when food poisoning makes its appearance. So, here’s the skinny:
- Store raw meats (hamburger, poultry, etc.) and cold cooked foods or anything with mayonnaise (potato salad, coleslaw, creamy dressings, pasta salad) in an ice-filled cooler kept below 40°F.
- Do not leave any cooked foods—even hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken—without refrigeration for more than two hours. If it’s over 90°F outside, drop that time to an hour.
- Keep stews, soups, or chilis above 140°F. An insulated container with a lid can easily maintain these temperatures (and it’s why we love those crockpots). But if they do start to cool, get them in a cooler until they reach below 40°F. Then pull them out and reheat them to at least 165°F, and they’re ready to re-serve.
No Touching!
Those hamburger patties in the cooler may be resting safely below 40°F, but if their juice leaks onto the carrot sticks, trouble will ensue when your guests start crunching on those veggies later.
To easily safeguard against cross contamination:
- Keep each type of raw meat stored in separate, sealed plastic bags in the cooler.
- Never place cooked meat on the same plate or tray as raw meat.
- Keep food in one cooler and drinks in another. The last thing you want is “raw chicken ice slushy” floating around with your favorite drinks.
- Bring five or six sets of cooking utensils: a set for raw food, one for cooked food, and a third in case you drop one. The extra sets are for the “after-gate” cookout.
- Bring a set of utensils just for serving.
- Wash hands frequently. Keep a jug of water solely for handwashing. Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer works too.
- Wear gloves when handling raw food, then discard them before handling other food or utensils or patting your buddy on the back.
- If you’re washing things at your tailgate, wash utensils with antibacterial soap in one sink or tub and rinse in a different one.
- Have one set of serving dishes for raw food and one for cooked foods. Designate a plastic tub near the grill for tossing in dirty cooking utensils and prep dishes for toting home.
- Use cutting boards only once.
- Clean and disinfect thermometer probes after every single use.
- Immediately clean up anything raw—solid or liquid—with disinfectant wipes.
Get it Right!
Bacteria loves a lazy griller. Or one who thinks science is a joke. An estimated 1 million people suffer needlessly through food poisoning a year, according to the CDC. So, man up and whip out your food thermometer to make sure your meats reach these safe-to-eat internal temperatures.
- 145°F whole pieces of beef and pork
- 160°F ground beef and pork
- 165°F poultry
One of the fundamental rules of tailgating is that a little preparation goes a long way. By following these food safety tips and developing safe food handling practices that are used for every game, tailgaters can ensure that their guests get to enjoy the game.