Safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage are essential to prevent foodborne illness. You can't see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may cause illness. In every step of food preparation, follow the four Fight BAC!™ guidelines to keep food safe:

• Clean — Wash hands and surfaces often.
• Separate — Don't cross-contaminate.
• Cook — Cook to proper temperatures.
• Chill — Refrigerate promptly.

Shopping
 

• Purchase refrigerated or frozen items after selecting your non-perishables.
• Never choose meat or poultry in packaging that is torn or leaking.
• Do not buy food past "Sell-By," "Use-By," or other expiration dates.

Storage
 

• Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F).
• Check the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer with an appliance thermometer. The refrigerator should be at 40 °F or below and the freezer at 0 °F or below.
• Cook or freeze ground meats, and variety meats within 2 days; other beef within 3 to 5 days.
• Perishable food such as meat should be wrapped securely to maintain quality and to prevent meat juices from getting onto other food.
• To maintain quality when freezing meat in its original package, wrap the package again with foil or plastic wrap that is recommended for the freezer.

Preparation
 

• Always wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food.
• Don't cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat and their juices away from other food. After cutting raw meats, wash cutting board, utensils, and countertops with hot, soapy water.
• Cutting boards, utensils, and countertops can be sanitized by using a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water.
• Marinate meat in a covered dish in the refrigerator.

Thawing
 

• Refrigerator: The refrigerator allows slow, safe thawing. Make sure thawing meat juices do not drip onto other food.
• Cold Water: For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof plastic bag. Submerge in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook immediately after thawing.
• Microwave: Cook meat immediately after microwave thawing.

Cooking
 

• Beef, should be cooked to 145 °F.
• Ground beef, should be cooked to 160 °F.

Serving
 

• Hot food should be held at 140 °F or warmer.
• Cold food should be held at 40 °F or colder.
• When serving food at a buffet, keep food hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays. Keep food cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice or use small serving trays and replace them often.
• Perishable food should not be left out more than 2 hours at room temperature (1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F).

Leftovers
 

• Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if the temperature was above 90 °F).
• Place food into shallow containers and immediately put in the refrigerator or freezer for rapid cooling.
• Use cooked leftovers within 4 days.

Refreezing
Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen before or after cooking. If thawed by other methods, cook before refreezing.

Cold Storage Chart
These short, but safe, time limits will help keep refrigerated food from spoiling or becoming dangerous to eat. Because freezing keeps food safe indefinitely, recommended storage times are for quality only.