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University of Illinois Extension Discusses Summer Grilling

The summer grilling season is upon us and the University of Illinois Extension has some reminders about safe and clean grilling this summer. 

 

You can tell it's summer grilling season by the various smells you'll encounter when strolling through the community and Caitlin Mellendorf, Nutrition Educator with the University of Illinois Extension says there are four general focuses when discussing outdoor grilling. The first, and perhaps the most important, is cleanliness.

 

 

Dealing with raw meats can be very complicated and Mellendorf emphasizes you want to be very careful if you're going to be cooking with multiple kinds of raw meat. She says being negligent can have some very harsh consequences.

 

 

Finally, you want to make sure your foods are cooked to their recommended internal temperatures. Mellendorf says a food thermometer is a must and implores to never judge your foods' completion based on how it looks. Additionally, you'll want to maintain those temperatures in hot foods and keep cold foods cold. 

 

 

Cross-contamination is a very serious threat if you do not clean properly and are mingling raw meats together. Mellendorf says the side effects of this can be mild for some to serious food poisonings and other illnesses. 

 

Another recommendation is to keep those grill grates cleaned by scraping them off between foods coming and going on the grill and where we're putting our foods on the grill. 

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