Food Forum: Summer Grilling and Food Safety

Following a few safety procedures can help prevent the spread of foodborne illness. By Brian Diffenderfer Grilling season is in full swing and with the temperatures rising, food bacteria can multiply quickly on foods not properly refrigerated. To ensure your customers have a safe and enjoyable eating experience, it is crucial to consistently follow and promote proper food-safe handling procedures. According to the Mayo Clinic, foodborne illness is caused by food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or toxins. In the U.S. there are more than 3 million cases reported per year. Retailers can take the lead in helping their customers reduce the risk of foodborne illness in a variety of ways. For example, on a macro level, launching comprehensive food safety awareness campaigns promoting USDA food safety procedures through all available marketing communication channels is a great way to meaningfully and personally engage consumers. Here are a few easy-to-execute ideas. In-store education: Retailers can make it easy for consumers to follow good food safety protocols by providing food handling and preparation tips alongside popular grilling items. Store associates, especially those working in the meat/fish/seafood department, should be trained and ready to provide expert direction on how to make the most out of the cuts customers select to grill, including food safety tips. Associates should be responsible for checking displays, particularly during summer months, to ensure cases are holding proper temperatures and all products remain thoroughly refrigerated or frozen. Meat counters/displays: Full-service meat/poultry and seafood counters are the perfect place to engage and educate consumers about food safety. Retailers should ensure all associates working behind the service counter understand and can communicate proper food safety handling procedures. Store circulars and stand-alone displays can also do the trick as a means to showcase product but also share your commitment to food safety and keeping customers healthy. When recommending new marinades and barbecue sauces that will enhance the consumers’ grilling experiences, be sure to make shoppers aware of the dangers of cross contamination, particularly if you are displaying several proteins together that require different grilling times and/or if consumers are planning to grill up a variety of options at their next barbecue. Key tips to remember include: •Be sure that different proteins are not touching each other in the case, or on the grill, to ensure juices do not co-mingle or drip onto one another when being packaged or cooked. •Never use the same platters or utensils for raw and cooked meats. When removing marinated meat from the service counter always use clean utensils and put used utensils in a sink away from product. •All counters, cutting boards and work surfaces should be cleaned and sanitized immediately after each protein is prepared. •It is a good idea to provide safe food/meat handling tips to consumers at the meat counter, which you can easily find by visiting the USDA website. Make sure you include tips about the importance of food safety even after meats are cooked. Packaging: Packaging is another area of concern for cross contamination. The juices leaking out of the packages can cause cases to smell bad and the bottom of the products to stick together. It is extremely important to keep cases clean at all times to not only provide a more pleasant shopping experience but to also ensure cases continue to run properly. Additionally, a steady supply of plastic bags should be provided at the meat case to allow consumers to keep proteins away from each other in their carts. A great way to leverage private brand offerings in the meat case is to package them in creative ways to offer on-pack safe cooking tips and/or provide a convenient space for consumers to indicate the date and time of purchase. This will make it easier for them to organize their selections when storing them at home. Brian Diffenderfer is director of meat & seafood at Daymon Worldwide. He can be reached at [email protected].