Avoid food illness: cook and eat safely outdoors this summer!

With the Summer barbecue and picnic season in full swing, Australians have been warned today to play safe and avoid the risk of food poisoning when eating outdoors.

To bring the food safety message home, Senator the Hon. Grant Tambling, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Aged Care, hosted a lunchtime barbecue at Parliament House in Canberra.

'There’s nothing more traditional than an Aussie barbecue or a picnic in Summer. But how many of us know how to avoid the risk of food poisoning when we are eating in the great outdoors?' asked Senator Tambling.

'It’s important for everyone to remember that food can become contaminated faster in hot weather. We already know there are around 4.2 million cases in this country every year', he said.

The lunchtime barbecue was held by the Food Safety Campaign Group (FSCG) to publicise food safety when eating outdoors. The FSCG is a coalition of industry, professional groups and governments whose role is to educate consumers in safe food handling.

The Chairman of the FSCG, Mr Barry Shay of the CSIRO’s Food Science Australia, gave a hands-on demonstration of food safety when cooking and serving food outdoors. After the demonstration, the sizzling but safe results were served up to invited guests from the health and food industries, government health authorities and the media.

Pork sausages for the barbecue were supplied by the Australian Pork Corporation, and representatives of FoodBank Australia helped Barry Shay with the cooking.