Q: My son is getting married in August, and we are preparing and serving the rehearsal dinner. Do you have any suggestions on keeping the food safe?

A: I’m so glad that you asked this BEFORE the event. Unfortunately, so many wait until some of the guests get sick before they ask, “What did I do wrong?” As you are aware, mishandled food can cause very serious consequences for all, especially for at-risk groups such as infants and young children, older adults, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems. Therefore, it’s so important to follow some basic food-handling recommendations.

First, select a reliable person to be in charge. Hopefully, that’s not you since you’ll be busy greeting and visiting with family and friends of the bride and groom. The person who is in charge should oversee the preparation, service and cleanup of the dinner.

Here are the food safety tips to pass on:

Proper hand washing

It seems so simple, yet not very well-practiced at times. Hands should be washed before preparing or sampling/eating food and after going to the toilet; coughing, sneezing, or using a tissue; touching cuts, burns or infected areas on the skin; handling dirty kitchen equipment, utensils, dishes or soiled work surfaces; or handling raw meat or poultry.

Here’s how to wash your hands:

• Wet hands with hot, running water.

• Apply soap and rub hands together for at least 20 seconds, cleaning under fingernails and between fingers (do not have your hands under the water during this).

• Rinse hands thoroughly under running water.

• Dry hands with a paper towel and use the paper towel to turn off the water.

• Using single-use gloves: Gloves do not replace the need for good hand-washing practices. However, when you do use gloves, wash your hands before putting them on. Gloves are only needed when you are ready to handle ready-to-eat food. Use gloves for only one task, then discard. If food preparation is interrupted, remove and dispose of the gloves. Make sure you use a new, clean pair of gloves when you resume preparing food. Do not use single-use gloves around heat or hot fats.

• Avoid cross-contamination: Do not cross-contaminate raw meats, poultry and fish with ready-to-eat foods. Common cross-contaminated items include cutting boards, cooking utensils and hands.

Thawing foods

Never thaw foods on the counter at room temperature. Use only one of these methods for thawing food safely:

• Thaw under running water (70 degrees or below) for less than 2 hours.

• Thaw in refrigerator at 41 degrees or below.

• Defrost in the microwave and cook the food immediately following.

• As part of the cooking process, continuously cooking with no interruption.

• Use food thermometers: Make sure stem thermometers are calibrated and clean before measuring food temperatures.

Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold

Keep hot foods above 135 degrees and cold foods below 41 degrees.

Transporting food and buffets

All food that is transported or kept on a buffet must be kept hot (135 degrees or above) or cold (41 degrees or below).

Cool foods quickly

Foods need to be cooled from 135 degrees to 70 degrees within 2 hours and from 70 degrees to 41 degrees within four more hours.

Reheat foods quickly

Reheat all foods to 165 degrees within two hours.

Cleaning and sanitizing

Ensure that all food contact surfaces are washed, rinsed and sanitized. If manually washing dishes, a simple sanitizing solution in the final rinse water is 1 tablespoon of chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Let manually washed, rinsed and sanitized dishes air-dry.

Toxic materials

Keep all toxic materials, such as cleaners, pesticides and medications separate from food preparation areas.

Q: If we have any leftover food, what is our liability if we donate it to a food pantry?

A: Often known as the “Good Samaritan Law,” according to the Kansas Department of Agriculture-Food Safety and Lodging Statutes, a good-faith donor of canned or perishable food, to a bona fide charitable or not for profit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals, shall not be subject to criminal or civil liability arising from an injury or death due to the condition of such food unless such injury or death is a direct result of the willful, wanton, malicious or intentional misconduct of the donor.

However, nothing in this act shall restrict the authority of any appropriate agency to regulate or ban the use of such food for human consumption.

— Susan Krumm is an Extension agent in family and consumer sciences with K-State Research and Extension-Douglas County, 2110 Harper St. She can be reached at 843-7058.