Food Safety for Summer

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The hot summer months are passing along with the food sitting out during picnics, grilling out, and barbecues.

The Zanesville – Muskingum County Health Department is warning the community about food safety while it’s out in the heat. Registered Sanitarian Adam Dickerson said people should first wash their hands and provide utensils for all dishes being cooked and served.

“So if you have let’s say a tray of hot dogs or hamburgers,” Dickerson said. “If you could use tongs or something so they can grab [the food] with the utensils, because that’s the easiest way for food born illness to be transmitted is from people not washing their hands and transmitting whatever’s on their hands onto the food.”

Dickerson suggested to keep the food covered and stored properly. If food is left uncovered and the cold products are left in warm temperatures over four hours then food can spoil and you’re more likely to become sick.

“Most food born illnesses take a minimum of 12 to 24 hours in order to start showing symptoms,” Dickerson said. “If you think you have a food born illness, it’s important to go to the doctor and then that also gets reported to us.”

Another common way people get sick is when they’re raw foods come in contact with their cooked food.

“For example you don’t want raw hamburgers stored over top of lettuce, because you obviously don’t want the juices to drain onto the lettuce,” Dickerson said. “That’s not getting cooked and you’d be eating that, so it’s really important to have any kind of raw meat underneath food that you’re going to be eating without cooking.”

The Health Department has more information on food safety at zmchd.org