Camping and food safety
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EmailImportant tips to help keep your summer camping trips free from foodborne illness.
Over seven million Michiganders enjoy spending time outdoors. Chances are most have also cooked or prepared food while on their outdoor adventures. If you spend time outside, have you considered food safety while exploring? Whether day-hiking the North Country Trail or on a week-long camping trip in the backwoods, food safety matters. While the same food safety recommendations apply as they would in your home, camping and hiking can create some challenges. Michigan State University Extension recommends the following tips to help you stay food safe outdoors:
- Keep everything clean. A fun part of exploring the outdoors is being one with nature and getting your hands dirty, but that dirt could potentially make you sick. No matter what, always wash your hands before preparing and eating food. If no running water is available, plan to make your own portable hand washing station. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just needs clean water, soap, paper towels, a bucket to catch the dirty water and a small trash bag. Everything you use for cooking and eating also needs to be clean, including the cooler. Never wash dishes directly in lake, stream or river water. Natural water can be used but needs to be boiled or otherwise rid of pathogens by using iodine tablets, filtering, or treating with bleach for cleaning food surfaces, including the cooler. Keep clean water containers separate from containers that store untreated water. When it comes to food, avoid cross-contamination by keeping raw meats separate from other foods.
- Choose foods that need little or no preparation. Having steak or stuffed chicken breast sounds gourmet but can cause more problems than it’s worth. Canned or pre-packaged products can make life easier and safer around camp. Instead of bringing raw chicken, try canned chicken. Bring your own soup mixes with dry noodles and dehydrated vegetables that only require hot water. There are many healthy alternatives to raw foods that need simple preparation and will reduce your chances of improper handling.
- Use thermometers. This recommendation goes for both cooking and storing food. Use a food thermometer to measure the temperature of cooked food before serving, especially meals with meat, poultry, fish, and eggs. Cooking on a camp stove or open fire can lead to uneven heating or charring that may look like food is fully cooked when it might be raw inside. The only sure way to tell is to take the temperature in more than one spot in the food. If you’re not sure how to use a food thermometer watch the Using a Thermometer video from Think Food Safety to learn proper techniques. It is also recommended to use a refrigerator thermometer in your cooler. Keep the thermometer near the top because that will be the warmest place. Your cooler should always be 41 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Other tips include changing ice often, draining excess water and only opening the cooler when necessary to help maintain this temperature.
- Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Most hot foods eaten outdoors are cooked on a camp stove or open fire but that doesn’t mean you’re not in danger. Food cooked at camp needs to be consumed or stored in a cooler within two hours of being cooked. Cold foods also need special attention and should always be kept at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Both hot and cold foods should never be left at room or outdoor temperatures for more than two hours. That rule changes to only one hour, or less, if outdoor temperatures are 90 degrees Fahrenheit or above.
- Never drink directly from streams, lakes or rivers. No matter how clean the water looks, it could be teeming with bacteria or parasites that can make you sick. These organisms can’t be seen, smelled or tasted. Even swimming with your mouth open could cause you to ingest harmful organisms. Always filter, boil or otherwise treat drinking water if you’re sourcing it from nature. Use this treated water to wash your hands after swimming, before preparing food and prior to eating.
Avoiding foodborne illness while enjoying outdoor adventures is easy with a little planning. For more information on outdoor food safety check out this resource from the USDA.
