Raw Chicken Without Proper Temperature Control
Picture this: you’re at a backyard barbecue, and someone confidently slaps raw chicken on the grill without a thermometer in sight. Using a food thermometer is the only way to ensure the safety of meat, poultry, seafood, and egg products for all cooking methods. These foods must be cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature to destroy any harmful bacteria. Yet countless people still eyeball their poultry, trusting color and texture alone.
Poultry should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) as measured with a food thermometer. The problem is that outdoor cooking conditions make proper temperature monitoring even more crucial than indoor cooking. Wind, uneven heat distribution, and varying grill temperatures can create hot spots and cold zones that leave dangerous bacteria alive and kicking.
What makes this particularly risky is that more than half of Americans say they are cooking outdoors year-round. Whether the snow is falling, or the sun is shining, it’s important to follow food safety guidelines to prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying and causing foodborne illness when cooking outdoors. The combination of increased outdoor cooking frequency and casual temperature monitoring creates a perfect storm for foodborne illness.
Partially Pre-cooked Foods That Need Immediate Grilling
The practice of partially cooking meat indoors before finishing it on the grill has become increasingly popular among busy outdoor cooks. However, this seemingly time-saving technique comes with strict regulations that most people completely ignore. Holding partially cooked food is not recommended because any bacteria present would not have been destroyed. If you precook meat or poultry, do so immediately before grilling.
The danger lies in the time gap between partial cooking and final grilling. Partial cooking before grilling is only safe when the partially cooked food can go on the hot grill immediately, for example at a home with a grill on the patio or deck. Yet people routinely partially cook meat hours ahead of time, transport it to different locations, and then finish cooking it later.
This practice violates the fundamental rule that partially cooked foods must remain in the temperature danger zone for the shortest time possible. Since bacteria multiply rapidly between 40 and 140°F, it is vital to keep dangerous foods outside of this range. Raw meat, poultry, and seafood must be kept below 40°F before being cooked, whereas cooked food needs to be kept above 140°F to keep the bacteria at bay.
Wild Foraged Mushrooms Without Certification
The Instagram-worthy trend of foraging for wild mushrooms has exploded in recent years, but what most outdoor cooking enthusiasts don’t realize is that cooking wild mushrooms without proper identification expertise is heavily regulated in many states. This 5 year mushroom foraging permit meets the criteria required by the state health departments and formally approved for the foraging and selling of wild mushrooms in the following states: South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island.
Wild mushrooms are ‘mushrooming’ around Australia this Autumn after wet weather, so today the Food Safety Information Council is warning people to be extremely careful around wild mushrooms because of the deadly, deathcap mushroom poisoning risk. Cathy Moir, Food Safety Information Council Chair, said that foraging for wild food is becoming a popular activity, and is strongly promoted by influencers on social and conventional media, but gathering wild mushrooms can be life-threatening.
What’s particularly terrifying is that The toxin in deathcap mushrooms is not destroyed by peeling, cooking or drying. No amount of outdoor cooking skill can make a poisonous mushroom safe. We are particularly concerned about this growing online promotion of mushroom foraging with some wild mushroom social media groups having over 40,000 members seeking to have their photos of mushrooms identified by fellow foragers. Apps and Google are not reliable to identify mushrooms accurately as they often only recognise Northern Hemisphere mushrooms and mushrooms change appearance during their growth cycle.
Raw Eggs in Outdoor Recipes
The campfire tradition of making fresh mayonnaise, Caesar salad dressing, or ice cream using raw eggs might seem harmless, but it’s a practice that health authorities strongly discourage for outdoor cooking scenarios. Everyone is advised against eating raw or undercooked egg yolks and whites or products containing raw or undercooked eggs. This includes “health food” milk shakes made with raw eggs, Caesar salad, Hollandaise sauce and any other foods like homemade mayonnaise, ice cream or eggnog made from egg ingredients that are not thoroughly cooked.
The outdoor environment makes raw egg consumption even more dangerous than indoor preparation. Without proper refrigeration and temperature control, Unbroken, clean, fresh shell eggs may contain Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) bacteria that can cause foodborne illness. To be safe, eggs must be safely handled, promptly refrigerated and thoroughly cooked. Yet people regularly bring eggs on camping trips and outdoor adventures, where maintaining proper temperature becomes nearly impossible.
If homemade ice cream is on your menu, make sure you don’t use raw eggs. Raw eggs may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria, which can cause foodborne illness. If your favorite recipe calls for raw eggs, use dried or pasteurized eggs. The solution exists, but convenience often wins over safety in outdoor cooking situations.
Cross-Contaminated Seafood and Meat Combinations
The practice of cooking different proteins on the same grill surface without proper cleaning between different types of meat creates dangerous cross-contamination scenarios. Store raw meat and poultry in well-sealed packages in the bottom of the cooler underneath other food items. This will help to avoid cross-contamination. If poultry juice leaks onto other meats, then that meat needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 F.
What many outdoor cooks don’t realize is that once contamination occurs, all affected proteins must be cooked to the highest required temperature. This means if chicken juice drips onto a perfectly good steak, that steak now needs to reach poultry-safe temperatures. Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags, and refrigerator. Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood. Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs unless the plate has been washed in hot, soapy water.
The outdoor environment compounds this problem because proper washing facilities are often unavailable. If you’re eating away from home, find out if there’s a source of clean water. If not, bring water for food preparation, washing hands, surfaces and utensils. Otherwise, pack clean cloths, alcohol-based moist towelettes and hand sanitizer. Without these resources, proper decontamination becomes impossible.
Smoking Meats Below Safe Temperature Ranges
The low-and-slow smoking trend has captured the imagination of outdoor cooking enthusiasts, but many people operate their smokers below the minimum safe temperature ranges required by food safety regulations. The temperature in the smoker should be maintained at 250 to 300 °F for safety. Yet countless backyard pitmasters proudly smoke their meats at temperatures as low as 180-200°F, thinking they’re achieving better flavor.
Smoking is cooking food indirectly in the presence of a fire. It can be done in a covered grill with a pan of water placed beneath the meat or poultry. Meats can also be smoked in a smoker — an outdoor cooker especially designed for smoking foods. Smoking is done much more slowly than grilling, and as a result, the meat is tender and takes on a natural smoke flavoring. The temperature in the smoker should be maintained at 250 to 300°F (121 to 149°C) for safety.
The danger lies in extended exposure to the temperature danger zone. When smoking temperatures drop below 250°F, meats can spend hours in the bacterial growth temperature range before reaching safe internal temperatures. Use a food thermometer to be sure the food has reached a safe internal temperature. The romanticized notion of “low and slow” can become a recipe for foodborne illness when taken too far.
Why People Keep Breaking These Rules Anyway
Despite clear regulations and mounting evidence of foodborne illness risks, people continue to violate outdoor cooking safety rules with alarming frequency. The psychology behind this behavior involves a dangerous combination of overconfidence, convenience culture, and social pressure. Many outdoor cooks develop a false sense of security based on past experiences where they “got away with” unsafe practices without immediate consequences.
Social media has also contributed to the problem by glamorizing risky behaviors like wild mushroom foraging and extreme low-temperature smoking. Foraging for wild food is becoming a popular activity, and is strongly promoted by influencers on social and conventional media, but gathering wild mushrooms can be life-threatening. The visual appeal of these practices often overshadows the potential dangers in online content.
The outdoor cooking environment itself creates a perfect storm for rule-breaking behavior. Limited access to proper washing facilities, temperature monitoring equipment, and refrigeration makes following safety protocols genuinely challenging. Combined with the relaxed, social atmosphere of most outdoor cooking events, these practical obstacles often lead to compromised food safety standards that people would never accept in their home kitchens.
The regulations around outdoor cooking exist for very real reasons, backed by decades of foodborne illness data and scientific research. While the outdoor cooking experience should be enjoyable and social, it doesn’t have to be dangerous. Understanding these commonly violated rules – and why people break them – is the first step toward safer outdoor cooking practices. Next time you fire up that grill or head out for a camping trip, remember that following food safety regulations isn’t about killing the fun – it’s about making sure everyone lives to cook another day.
