Cooking Out for the Fourth? Watch That Meat! (But the Mayo's OK.)

If you're making hamburgers this weekend, make sure they're well-done.

In the wake of recalled hamburger meat from Kroger, officials are stressing food safety this holiday weekend. MPB’s Cari Gervin has more.

So it’s the Fourth of July, and you’re ready to celebrate. You’ve got your bug spray and your sunscreen. There’s a designated driver and a lifeguard watching the pool. You’re even forgoing fireworks because you’re so worried about safety.

But have you checked out your picnic table?

“Well if food isn’t handled properly, it can be a source of illness.”

That’s Tim Darnell with the Mississippi Department of Health. His office wants to make sure Mississippians don’t get food poisoning when they should be having fun.

He says the most important thing you can do is wash your hands, cook everything thoroughly and toss out leftovers that have been sitting in the sun. Surprisingly, Darnell says mayonnaise isn’t something to worry about.

“And it’s actually not something that supports the growth of food-borne microorganisms. It could be placed on things that, that could be dangerous, for example a meat salad, like chicken salad. Well, it’s actually not the mayonnaise that’s the problem, it’s the meat that’s the problem.”

And meat is where most of the problems happen. Byron Williams is a professor of food science at Mississippi State University. He says all raw meat has bacteria.

“During the cooking process you are destroying those harmful bacteria. However, if you put the cooked product then back onto the same platter that had the raw meat or poultry or whatever, then you recontaminate your cooked product. So, there you go – defeated the purpose of your cooking.”

Williams says that holds true for utensils and anything else that touches the uncooked meat. For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin.