How to Serve Safe Food - Food Safety Tailgate Party Recipes & Tailgate Tips

I love this time of year, especially for the tailgate party recipes, which means loads of fun, football, and food! I have some tailgate tips for you! But are you making sure to serve safe food? When it comes to food safety, time and temperature control are two big ways to prevent contamination of foods. Keep tailgating fun by keeping food-borne away with these food safety tips!

Temperatures to Serve Safe Food

REMEMBER the temperature danger zone is 41-135°F:
Hot foods should be cooked to 135°F or above
Cold foods should be kept at 41°F or lower.

Hot foods should be cooked to 135°F or above:
- Hamburgers made from ground beef should be cooked at least to 155°
- When cooking my Asian Sliders from Too Hot In the Kitchen keep the raw meat at 41°F or below before cooking. Cook immediately once you get to the game to be sure you serve safe appetizers. Cook to at least 155°F and hold at that temperature for at least 15 seconds.
- Hot foods can be held at room temperature for up to four hours—but these sliders are so good they probably won’t last that long!
- Keep the salsa on ice if prepped before the tailgate party.

Cold foods should be kept at 41°F or lower:
- Keep your meat, seafood and dairy-based dips, such as Spinach Artichoke Dip from Gulf Coast Favorites on ice during the party to serve safe appetizers.
- Cold foods can be held at room temperature for up to six hours if they were held at 41°F or lower before and do not exceed 70°F while sitting out.
- An easy way to keep cool foods cold is to keep them on ice.
- Make sure raw meats and refrigerated foods are stored at proper temperatures before driving over to the game and kept on ice in a cooler for transportation.
- Throw out after six hours or if the temperature reaches 70°F or above before six hours.

Any cakes or cookies, should be fine if cooked (no raw cookie dough), just keep out of the sun. Try my tailgate party recipes like this mouthwatering Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies from Too Hot in the Kitchen cookbook!

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