Food Safety While Hiking,
Camping and Boating, p.2

Cooking at camp
After you have decided on a menu, you need to plan how you will prepare the food. You'll want to take as few pots as possible (they're heavy!). Camping supply stores sell lightweight cooking gear that nest together, but you can also use aluminum foil wrap and pans for cooking.

You'll need to decide in advance how you will cook. Will you bring along a portable stove or will you build a campfire? Many camping areas prohibit campfires, so check first or assume you will have to take a stove. Make sure to bring any equipment you will need. If you are bringing a camp stove, practice putting it together and lighting it before you pack. If you build a campfire, carefully extinguish the fire and dispose of the ashes before breaking camp. Likewise, leftover food should be burned, not dumped. Lastly, be sure to pack garbage bags to dispose of any other trash, and carry it out with you.

Use a food thermometer
Another important piece of camping equipment is a food thermometer. If you are cooking meat or poultry on a portable stove or over a fire, you'll need a way to determine when it is done and safe to eat. Color is not a reliable indicator of doneness, and it can be especially tricky to tell the color of a food if you are cooking in a wooded area in the evening.

When cooking hamburger patties on a grill or portable stove, use a digital thermometer to measure the temperature. Digital thermometers register the temperature in the very tip of the probe, so the safety of thin foods -- such as hamburger patties and boneless chicken breasts -- as well as thicker foods can be determined. A dial thermometer determines the temperature of a food by averaging the temperature along the stem and, therefore, should be inserted 2 to 2 ½ inches into the food. If the food is thin, the probe must be inserted sideways into the food.

It is critical to use a food thermometer when cooking hamburgers. Ground beef may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, a particularly dangerous strain of bacteria. Illnesses have occurred even when ground beef patties were cooked until there was no visible pink. The only way to insure that ground beef patties are safely cooked is to use a food thermometer, and cook the patty until it reaches 160 degrees farenheit. For chicken, cook breasts or cutlets to 170 degrees farenheit; legs and thighs to 180 degrees farenheit. Pork should be cooked to 160 degrees farenheit. Heat hot dogs and any leftover food to 165 degrees farenheit. Be sure to clean the thermometer between uses.

Keeping cold
If you are "car camping" (driving to your site), you don't have quite as many restrictions. First, you will have the luxury of bringing a cooler. What kind of cooler? Foam chests are lightweight, low cost and have good "cold retention" power. But they are fragile and may not last through numerous outings. Plastic, fiberglass or steel coolers are more durable and can take a lot of outdoor wear. They also have excellent "cold retention" power, but, once filled, larger models may weigh 30 or 40 pounds.

To keep foods cold, you'll need a cold source. A block of ice keeps longer than ice cubes. Before leaving home, freeze clean, empty milk cartons filled with water to make blocks of ice, or use frozen gel-packs. Fill the cooler with cold or frozen foods. Pack foods in reverse order. First foods packed should be the last foods used. (There is one exception: pack raw meat or poultry below ready-to-eat foods to prevent raw meat or poultry juices from dripping on the other foods.) Take foods in the smallest quantity needed (e.g., a small jar of mayonnaise). In the car, put the ice chest in the air-conditioned passenger section, not in the trunk. At the campsite, insulate the cooler with a blanket, tarp or poncho. When the camping trip is over, discard all perishable foods if there is no longer ice in the cooler or if the gel-pack is no longer frozen.

Cleanup
Whether taking a hike or camping at an established site, if you will be washing dishes or cookware, there are some rules to follow. Camping supply stores sell biodegradable camping soap in liquid and solid forms. But use it sparingly, and keep it out of rivers, lakes, streams and springs, as it will pollute. If you use soap to clean your pots, wash the pots at the campsite, not at the water's edge. Dump dirty water on dry ground, well away from fresh water. Some wilderness campers use baking soda to wash their utensils. Pack disposable wipes for hands and quick cleanups.

Food safety while boating Keeping food safe for a day on the boat may not be quite as challenging as for a hike, but when you are out on the water, the direct sunlight can be an even bigger food safety problem. Remember the "Danger Zone?" It is true that bacteria multiply rapidly at warm temperatures, and food can become unsafe if held in the "Danger Zone" for over two hours. At 90 degrees farenheit or above, food can become dangerous after only one hour. In direct sunlight, temperatures can climb even higher than that. So bring along plenty of ice, and keep the cooler shaded or covered with a blanket.

Keep your cooler cool
A cooler for perishable food is essential. It is important to keep it closed, out of the sun, and covered, if possible, for further insulation. Better yet, bring two coolers: one for drinks and snacks, and another for more perishable food. The drink cooler will be opened and closed a lot, which lets hot air in and causes the ice to melt faster. Pack your coolers with several inches of ice, blocks of ice or frozen gel-packs. Store food in watertight containers to prevent contact with melting ice water.

Keep cold foods cold
Perishable foods, like luncheon meats, cooked chicken (Yes, that includes fried chicken) and potato or pasta salads, should be kept in the cooler. Remember the rule: hot foods hot, cold foods cold? And the two-hour rule: no food should be in the "Danger Zone" for more than two hours? Well, unless you plan to eat that bucket of fried chicken within two hours of purchase, it needs to be kept in the cooler. For optimum safety, consider buying it the night before, refrigerating it in a shallow container (not the bucket), and then packing it cold in the cooler.

Of course, some foods don't need to be stored in the cooler: fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, trail mix, canned meat spreads and peanut butter and jelly. (However, once canned foods are opened, put them in the cooler.)

If you don't have an insulated cooler, try freezing sandwiches for your outing. Use coarse-textured breads that don't get soggy when thawed. Take the mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato with you to add at mealtime. In a pinch, a heavy cardboard box lined with plastic bags and packed with frozen gel packs or ice will keep things cold until lunchtime. Freeze water in milk cartons for your cold source.

Seafood
If you are planning to fish, check with your fish and game agency or state health department to see where you can fish safely, then follow these guidelines:

Finfish:

1. Scale, gut, and clean fish as soon as they're caught.
2. Live fish can be kept on stringers or in live wells, as long as they have enough water and enough room to move and breathe.
3. Wrap fish, both whole and cleaned, in water-tight plastic and store on ice.
4. Keep 3 to 4 inches of ice on the bottom of the cooler. Alternate layers of fish and ice.
5. Store the cooler out of the sun and cover with a blanket.
6. Once home, eat fresh fish within one to two days or freeze them. For top quality, use frozen fish within three to six months.

Shellfish: Crabs, lobsters and other shellfish must be kept alive until cooked.

1. Store in live wells or out of water in a bushel or laundry basket under wet burlap or seaweed.
2. Crabs and lobsters are best eaten the day they're caught.
3. Live oysters should be cooked within seven to 10 days.
4. Live mussels and clams should be cooked within four to five days.
5. Eating raw shellfish is extremely dangerous. People with liver disorders or weakened immune systems are especially at risk.

Cleanup
Cleanup on the boat is similar to cleanup in the wild. Bring disposable wipes for handwashing, and bag up all your trash to dispose of when you return to shore.

General rules for outdoor food safety

• Plan ahead: decide what you are going to eat and how you are going to cook it; then plan what equipment you will need.
• Pack safely: use a cooler if car-camping or boating, or pack foods in the frozen state with a cold source if hiking or backpacking.
• Keep raw foods separate from other foods. Never bring meat or poultry products without a cold source to keep them safe.
• Bring disposable wipes or biodegradable soap for hand and dish washing.
• Plan on carrying bottled water for drinking. Otherwise, boil water or use water purification tablets.
• Do not leave trash in the wild or throw it off your boat.
• If using a cooler, leftover food is safe only if the cooler still has ice in it. Otherwise, discard leftover food.
• Whether in the wild or on the high seas, protect yourself and your family by washing your hands before and after handling food.

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About this article: This article was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. For additional food safety information about meat, poultry or eggs, call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at (800) 535-4555; Washington, DC area, (202) 720-3333; TTY: (800) 256-7072. It is staffed by home economists, registered dietitians and food technologists weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, year round. An extensive selection of food safety recordings can be heard 24 hours a day using a touch-tone phone.