Building castles in the sand, playing at the park from morning until night, spreading out a blanket and eating a picnic lunch. Are there any better summer memories than these? Don’t ruin picture-perfect moments with food poisoning.
Summer is prime time for food-borne illnesses like E. coli and Salmonella because the hot temperatures help bacteria multiply quickly and because we don’t tend to practice safe food handling when outdoors, according to Health Canada. Some 11 to 13 million Canadians are struck with food poisoning; while for some people it can pass quite quickly, for others it can be a lingering illness that may include headaches, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
Keep track of time
Most foods can spoil if we’re not careful, explains dietitian and nutritionist Elisa Zeid, author of Nutrition at your Fingertips. “If you leave things out, especially in the heat, they’re not going to do very well,” she says. “If you pack food really well on ice, you can go several hours. Once you take food out of the cooler, you only have two hours to eat it. And if it’s really warm or humid, over 32 degrees Celsius, you only have about an hour.”
Pack it on ice
We shouldn’t be fooled by how foods look to determine whether they are good or not. We can’t rely or sight or smell. The best thing to do is pack them well. “The more you pack things in single serve portions, the more likely they will get cold and stay safe,” says Zeid. “If you have a foot-by-foot cooler you want to have at least two large ice packs, about 8-inch square, in there. Don’t be conservative.” Zeid also says packing frozen water bottles is a great two-for-one alternative to ice packs.
Health Canada also recommends putting meat products at the bottom of the cooler, especially if raw, so they don’t drip onto other foods, and packing in reverse order so when the cooler is opened, the foods we’ll use first are on top. Try to keep a cooler in the shade and closed as much as possible, and when the picnic is over and ice packs have melted, toss perishable foods.
Make it hot
If the outing includes a barbecue, be sure to cook foods thoroughly to kill harmful bacteria, states Health Canada. Use an instant-read digital thermometer and check for the following numbers: 71 degrees Celsius for ground beef, 74 degrees Celsius for leftover food, and 85 degrees Celsius for whole poultry. Use a new or clean serving plate for cooked foods and eat them while still hot.
Choose the safest foods
Grilling or not, we still have to pay close attention to what we bring along. Foods made with mayonnaise, cooked meats like hamburgers wrapped in tin foil, even deli meats are susceptible to bacterial contamination. Our best bets:
- Canned, fresh or dried fruit and jams. If going fresh, try portable options like apples bananas, grapes and clementines.
- Nuts and seeds (if old enough). Peanut and other nut butters are great for sandwiches.
- Vegetables. Zeid likes edamame, celery, carrots and pepper strips.
- Grains. Crackers, tortillas, whole-wheat breads are all healthy choices.
Plan ahead
Zeid’s best advice for parents is to plan ahead. “Planning ahead makes it much more likely that you’ll be able to create a healthy cooler with nutritious foods and prepare and assemble them in a way that maximizes nutrients and safety while minimizing the risk of food-borne illnesses,” she explains. “Kids develop illness in a blink of an eye. Why not just play it safe?”
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