Handling picnic food safely

Apart from the threat of some unwelcome rain clouds, the other thing that can ruin your picnic is food poisoning. Here are some tips for your next picnic:

• keep food in the fridge until you're leaving to keep it as cold as possible for travelling. This is especially important if it contains cream, meat or poultry
• always wash fruit and vegetables – if you do this before setting off, your fruit and veg will be clean and ready to eat when you start your picnic
• wicker baskets are cute, but cool bags are much better at keeping your food chilled
• keep coolers/cool bags closed - this helps to keep the contents as cold as possible until you're ready to eat them

Keeping food at the right temperature is essential to prevent the growth of foodborne bacteria. Follow these simple rules to keep your food safe to eat:

• stop germs growing by keeping cold food cold and hot food hot until you’re ready to eat. Any foods which you would usually keep in the fridge at home also need to be kept cool at your picnic. Use a cool box or bag with ice, frozen gel packs or frozen drinks distributed evenly throughout to help keep your food cold
• eat ready-to-eat foods within 4 hours of being taken out of the fridge
• cover your food from pesky birds, insects, dogs and any other unwanted picnic thieves