For many, the Labor Day weekend still represents the unofficial end of summer. It also means another big weekend for some good old-fashioned outdoor cooking. Yet, food safety experts at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center stress there are some important tips to keep in mind to prevent illness when cooking meat and poultry outdoors.

Burgers, hot dogs, steaks, chicken and pork are all popular grill fare, but according to Dr. Patti Landers, a registered and licensed dietician with the Department of Nutritional Sciences with the OU Health Sciences Center, whole meats are generally safer than ground meats.

“The reason whole meats are better in terms of food safety is because when the meat is ground up, any bacteria on the outside gets mixed to the inside,” she explained. “With whole meats like steaks, on the other hand, the bacteria are on the outside of the meat, which gets hot enough during grilling to kill those bacteria.”

That means when cooking a burger, the inside of that ground meat patty has to get hot enough to be sure any bacteria have been killed. Landers said a food safety thermometer is the only way to be sure.

“Your goal is to check the temperature at the very center of the meat,” she explained. “That’s the place where it is likely to be the coldest. For many meats, that means you need to insert the thermometer from the side to be sure you get it into the center.”

According to Landers, the type of food safety thermometer one uses is also important. There are digital and analog versions both available.

“I actually prefer the digital ones,” said Landers, “because they don’t have to be calibrated. If you use an analog thermometer, you’ll need to calibrate it. You can do that by dipping the food safety thermometer into ice water. Then use a pair of pliers to set the gauge to 32 degrees, which is the temperature of frozen water. That will ensure that you are getting a true measurement of the internal temperature of the meats you will be checking with that thermometer.”

When checking internal temperatures, Landers added there are some important numbers to remember. For any type of ground meat, the inside temperature (the temperature at the very center of the burger)should be 165 degrees Fahrenheit. For poultry white meat, the temperature should be 170 degrees. For dark meat and whole chickens or turkeys (smoked or grilled), the internal temperature should be 180.

The risk with chicken is an organism called salmonella. Landers warned grilling alone may not be enough to eliminate that risk when cooking poultry pieces with bones.

“It’s just hard to get them hot enough internally on the grill to ensure the bacteria are killed,” she said. “So the best way to cook chicken pieces with bones is to throw them on the grill and mark it. That gives it that nice grilled look and also gets a little of that smoky flavor. So 20 to 30 minutes at most on the grill. Then finish it up in the oven.”

Landers pointed out boneless chicken breasts do not pose the same risk on the grill because they’re thinner. Still, she cautioned testing with a food safety thermometer is a must.

“Again, with a piece of meat like that, you want to take your digital thermometer and stick it in sideways to be sure that you have quite a bit of that probe in there to check the internal temperature at the very center.”

Landers offered a couple of other food safety tips when grilling meats. These include:

Don’t test different meats with the same thermometer unless you clean it first.

Keep a milk jug filled with a water-bleach solution next to the grill - one tablespoon of bleach for each gallon of water. Then dip your thermometer or spatula in the solution before using it again.

Once the food is off the grill, remember it needs to be refrigerated within one hour or it could become contaminated with bacteria again.

With a little extra care and the proper precautions, Landers said you can help ensure a delicious and safe meal hot off the grill.

Other simple food safety tips for the Labor Day holiday are just a mouse click away at www.foodsafety.gov .