Picnic Smart For Safe Holiday

OMAHA, Neb. -- If you aren't careful, a holiday picnic could make you sick.

Before you fire up the grill or toss the salad, remember that the biggest cause of food poisoning is improper handling of food.

Guy Sockrider is the Nebraska Medical Center's executive chef. He's a stickler for food safety. His first tip: don't cross-contaminate meats.

"You never want raw chicken to touch raw beef," Sockrider said.

That means don't stack them on the same plate, and don't use the same tong to turn them on the grill. Sockrider recommends a meat thermometer, too, to check that you're cooking meat to 155 degrees in the center.

Tip 2: Don't skimp on cleaning fresh produce.

"The melon is the most important thing to rinse. (It) grows in dirt, and if you cut it as-is, you push the dirt into the flesh," Sockrider said.

For lettuce and greens, triple-rinse. The first rinse should be in a bowl of ice water, to help remove dirt. Follow with two more tap water rinses.

Summer salads are picnic favorites, especially potato salad, but how long, before it spoils?

"The (Food and Drugs Administration) says leave it out two hours. I don't agree with that. I wouldn't leave it out 10 minutes," Sockrider said.

He suggests plunging the salad bowl into a bowl of ice to keep it cold. The reason may not be what you think, though. It isn't the mayonnaise.

"In potato salad, it's generally the eggs and celery," he said.

Because celery grows in dirt, it tends to harbor a lot of bacteria. He advises salad makers to blanch the celery before putting it in salad.