If it is pouring with rain outside this weekend and spoiling your chance of a ripping good barbecue, take a moment to read this food safety story instead.

Seriously, food poisoning can be a very acute illness and food care is nowhere more important than in the garden on a hot summer day. Whatever you’re cooking up this summer, keep food safe for friends and family with our food safety tips.

Bugs such as E.coli O157, salmonella and campylobacter can cause serious illness. But you can steer clear of food poisoning by taking some simple steps.

When you’re barbecuing, the biggest risk of food poisoning is from raw and undercooked meat.
Always make sure you cook chicken, pork, burgers, sausages and kebabs until they’re piping hot all the way through, none of the meat is pink and any juices run clear.

If you’re barbecuing for lots of people, you could cook meat indoors and finish it off on the barbecue for added flavour. Remember, when you reheat food on the barbecue, always make sure it’s piping hot all the way through before serving.

How can I make sure barbecued food is cooked properly?

• Wait until the charcoal is glowing red, with a powdery grey surface, before you start to cook.
• Make sure frozen food is properly thawed before you cook it.
• Turn the food regularly, and move it around the barbecue, to cook it evenly.
• Check that the centre of the food is piping hot.
• Don’t assume that if meat is charred on the outside that it will be cooked properly on the inside.

Why should I keep raw meat away from ready-to-eat food?

Raw meat can contain food poisoning bugs. So if raw meat touches or drips onto food that is already cooked or ready to eat, the bugs can get onto that food. Bugs can also transfer onto food from your hands, chopping board, knife or tongs. This is called cross-contamination. You can prevent it by doing the following things.

• Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw meat.
• Use separate utensils for raw and cooked meat.
• Never put cooked food on a plate or surface that has been used for raw meat.
• Keep raw meat in a sealed container away from ready-to-eat foods, such as burger buns and salads.
• Don’t put raw meat products next to cooked or partially cooked meat on the barbecue.
• Don’t add sauce or marinade to cooked food if it has already been used with raw meat.

Other tips for outdoor eating

Warm summer weather is perfect for bacteria to grow, so it’s especially important to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold until you’re ready to eat them.

If you’re having a buffet, try to keep the food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible. If there are any leftovers from a buffet or barbecue, throw them away or put them in the fridge as soon as you can. When you take leftovers out of the fridge, eat them immediately or reheat them thoroughly straight away – don’t leave them standing around at room temperature.

It’s especially important to keep the following foods chilled:

• Food containing cream, such as trifle, cream cakes and desserts.
• Meat and poultry.
• Food containing raw eggs.

When you’re going on a picnic, you should also be careful to keep food cool. Don’t take it out of the fridge until the last minute and use a cool bag to keep it chilled until you’re ready to eat.

Always try to wash your hands before eating but, if you can’t, you could use antiseptic hand wipes instead.

When you’re eating outdoors you should also remember to:

• Keep food covered whenever possible – this is to protect it from insects, birds and pets, which can carry bugs.
• Wash fruit and salad vegetables thoroughly.