Texas A&M AgriLife Extension experts offer Memorial Day grilling advice, including checking for burn bans before cooking out in public areas. NFPA data show gas grills were involved in an average 7,200 home fires a year from 2007 to 2011, and solid-fuel grills in 1,400.
Section archive
Food Safety FAQ
Answers to common food safety questions.
- All desks
- Abortion
- Accutane
- Acetaminophen
- Acid Reflux
- Acidic Foods
- Acne
- Acrylamide
- Acupuncture
- Additives
- ADHD
- Adiposity
- Advisories
- Aerobic Exercise
- Aflatoxin
- Agave
- Agent Orange
- Aging
- Agriculture
- AIDS
- Air Pollution
- Airline Passengers
- Airport
- ALA
- Alcohol
- Alcoholic Beverage
- Alerts
- Allergy
- Alli
- Aloe Vera
- ALS
- Alternative Medicine
- Aluminum
- Alzheimer's
- Amalgam
- AMD
- Ampyra
- Amygdala
- Anal Cancer
- And
- Anemia
- Angiogenesis
- Animal Protein
- Animals
- Anorexia
- Anthocyanins
- Anthrax
- Anti-Angiogenesis
- Anti-Obesity
- Antibacterial
- Antibiotic
Food Safety FAQ
Drinking alcohol increases breast cancer risk
Among 91,005 mothers in the Nurses' Health Study II, one drink a day between a girl's first period and her first full-term pregnancy was tied to 13 percent higher breast cancer risk and 15 percent higher risk of proliferative benign breast disease, with risk rising as drinking rose.
Food Safety FAQ
Why is the Meat So Red? Is It Safe?
Carbon monoxide keeps packaged meat looking red, and US and European food safety bodies have questioned whether that makes it look fresher than it is. Nitrite curing carries cancer links: a 2008 report tied a daily hot dog to 21 percent higher colorectal risk.
Food Safety FAQ
FAQ on Bacon
A question-and-answer page about bacon, covering how fat distribution and slice thickness affect crispness, storage limits of one week refrigerated or a month frozen, the use of rendered bacon fat as a flavoring, and the definitions of bacon and Canadian bacon.
Food Safety FAQ
Food Safety in a Power Outage
FDA's Howard Seltzer advises keeping appliance thermometers in the refrigerator and freezer and leaving the doors shut when power fails. A closed refrigerator holds food about four hours and a full freezer about 48; discard perishables that sat above 40 degrees for two hours or more.
Food Safety FAQ
Cooking Meat? Check the New Recommended Temperatures
The USDA lowered its recommended safe cooking temperature for whole cuts of pork from 160 to 145 degrees F, with a three-minute rest, and added the same rest for beef, veal and lamb. Ground meats stay at 160 degrees and all poultry at 165 degrees.
Food Safety FAQ
USDA Revises Recommended Cooking Temperature for All Whole Cuts of Meat
USDA lowered its recommended safe cooking temperature for whole cuts of pork from 160 to 145 degrees, adding a three-minute rest, which also now applies to beef, veal and lamb. Ground meats stay at 160 degrees and all poultry at 165.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics about Beef - 6
USDA answers on cooking and storing meat: steak is safe at 145 F, ground meats and pork at 160 F and poultry at 165 F; cooked ground beef keeps 3 or 4 days refrigerated and about 4 months frozen; microwaved patties need covering, turning and a thermometer check.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics about Beef - 5
USDA answers on beef labeling and inspection: meat shipped and sold across state lines must be federally inspected, fat percentage need not appear on ground beef labels, and natural means no artificial ingredients and no more than minimal processing.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Beef - 4
A USDA question-and-answer on beef: myoglobin is what makes beef, veal, lamb and pork red meats; raw or undercooked ground beef may carry harmful bacteria, so cook burgers and meat loaf to 160 degrees F; and E. coli O157:H7 forms its toxin in the intestine but is destroyed by thorough cooking.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Beef - 3
A USDA question-and-answer sheet on beef: schools have been able to order irradiated ground beef since January 2004, the four primal cuts are chuck, loin, rib and round, and beef that turns brown after about five days refrigerated reflects normal oxidation of myoglobin.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Beef - 2
A USDA explainer: beef grading is voluntary and paid for by the plant, and Prime, Choice and Select differ in marbling but not in protein, vitamin or mineral content. It also covers cooking corned beef and why packaged ground beef is red outside and grayish-brown inside.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Beef - 1
A Q&A on E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef: the bacteria survive refrigeration and freezing and multiply slowly at temperatures as low as 44 degrees F, and scientists believe a small number can cause serious illness. Thorough cooking to 160 degrees F kills them.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Bacon
A USDA question-and-answer sheet defines bacon as cured pork belly, sets out how Canadian and turkey bacon must be labeled, and gives storage limits: one week in the refrigerator at 40 degrees F, one month frozen at 0 degrees F.
14 stories