BBQ Grill Food Safety

Summer means the weather is good and it is time for some outdoor barbecuing.  Here are some reminders to maintain healthy BBQ and food safety:

If you use charcoal, try to use natural charcoal or certified wood briquettes, otherwise it may contain additives or coal dust. Use a chimney starter to light coals instead of VOC forming lighter fluid.

Green Charcoal

How can dirty, gritty charcoal be green? Charcoal is known as Bio-Char or Bio-Charcoal to scientists. There is charcoal made from invasive tree species or harvested from sustainably managed areas. Lump charcoal is also better to use than cheaper briquettes that could contain toxic coal dust.

Folks in Tanzania are also developing alternative charcoals.

Charcoal Alternatives

Also consider using a FlameDisk – a green Charcoal alternative. It uses an ethanol bio-fuel that is clean burnings.

Another alternative to charcoal or gas grills is a wood pellet burning grill that uses in an direct cooking method. There is no good scientific evidence that pellet grilling is healthier than other methods.

HCAs or Carcinogenic chemicals produced during cooking

HCAs (heterocyclic amines) are carcinogenic chemicals produced when meat is cooked at high temperatures.  When heat acts on amino acids, and creatinine in animal muscle, HCAs are formed. HCAs have been linked to cancer. Carcinogenic chemicals can be formed without visible burning.

• Microwave, bake, or broil meat first to partially cook it and to release the amino acids in the process, but drain the liquid off before transferring meat to the BBQ. Boiling ribs on the stove helps to pre-cooked them.
• Keep your meat, seafood, and other perishable in the refrigerator or cooler with ice right up until the time when they go on the grill. Food poisoning needs to be avoided with proper food handling.
• Always cook your meat at moderate temperatures and turn it regularly, in fact, rotating it every minute until it is fully cooked is recommended to stop the black charring that occurs so often.
• Do not let the flame touch the meat. Remove burnt or charred areas.
• Use a meat thermometer to measure doneness. Cutting into a piece of food to check it, looks bad.

Fat dripping on coals or fire creates harmful carcinogenic PAH chemicals.  Cut visible fat before grilling and try to grill lean cuts of meat. Organic, hormone free is preferred of course. Use foil or a drip pan. Grill veggies to avoid PAHs.

“Precooking a hamburger for a few minutes in the microwave reduces HCAs by up to 95 percent.Flip hamburgers often. Doing so every minute reduces HCAs by up to 100 percent… arinate meat before grilling. This can greatly reduce HCAs. For example, one study found that chicken marinated for 40 minutes in a mixture of brown sugar, olive oil, cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and salt cut HCAs by 92 percent to 99 percent. Don’t cook meat to well done.”

A food scientist stated that the risk of getting cancer from occasional grilling is very well, with the risk of food poisoning from improper meat cooking being far higher.

Many people think they should rinse meat, chicken, and fish before cooking, but the latest food safety guidelines do not recommend this. Running water can spray bacteria and other contaminants from the meat all over the sink and counter top. Bacteria will be destroyed during cooking.

FDA has an Eating Outdoors document.

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Posted on June 29th, 2011
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