Steaks, hamburgers, brats and more will be sizzling on grills for barbecues this holiday weekend, and to fully enjoy the holiday you’ll want to keep food safety in mind. Jason Taylor with Washington County Environmental Health, reminds area grill masters to keep meat below 41 degrees before cooking it and use clean surfaces. When you go to take the cooked meat of the grill put it on a clean plate, not the plate that you carried the raw meat on.
He recommends testing the temperature for meats to make sure they’re cooked fully. Ground meat patties should be cooked to 155 degrees while whole muscle cuts, like steaks and chops, should be cooked to 145 degrees. Poultry should be cooked to 165 degrees.
Taylor adds for fish purchased from a store it needs to be cooked to 145 degrees, while fish you catch you’ll want to cook to 165 degrees to make sure certain bacteria are killed.