With the sunshine threatening to make an appearance this August bank holiday weekend, households across Northern Ireland will be hoping to light up the barbecue and enjoy al fresco dining to make the most of the final days of summer.

Whether planning a feast of tasty chicken, juicy burgers, or succulent sausages, safefood is urging people to use a meat thermometer and take the guess work out of cooking barbecue meats by checking they are cooked to 75 degrees Celsius.

Research from safefood has found some worrying food safety behaviours home cooks may be making when hosting summer barbecues.

The survey found that almost half (45%) of Northern Ireland barbecue-goers have been served raw or undercooked barbecue meats like burgers, chicken, and sausages.

Two-thirds of home barbecue chefs were unaware of the correct temperature required to ensure barbecue meats were cooked and safe-to-eat.

Worryingly, it also found that 5% of home cooks purely relied on taste to check if barbecue meat is cooked.

Ahead of the bank holiday weekend, safefood has put together a list of top tips for a safe and tasty barbecue

Keep perishable foods like salads, coleslaw, and quiche in your fridge until you are ready to serve them.
Burgers, sausages and kebabs, pork and poultry must be cooked all the waythrough – take your food off the heat, pop the thermometer in the thickest part of themeat and when it reaches 75 degrees Celsius, then it’s cooked and ready to eat. Steaks can be served as ‘rare’ as harmful bacteria are on the outside only (and not in the centre).
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, follow the three checks ofensuring barbecue meats like burgers, sausages and chicken are cooked until piping hot,with no pink meat and the juices running clear.
If you like to marinate your meat, make sure any marinade used on raw meat is notthen used as a sauce to coat vegetables or cooked meat as it will contain raw meat
If you choose to barbecue any frozen food, it must be completely thawed first on thebottom shelf of your fridge before you cook it.
When handling raw meat and poultry, wash your hands thoroughly and frequently,most importantly before going on to prepare salads and other ready-to-eat foods.
Once your meat is cooked thoroughly, make sure to keep cooked meat separatefrom raw meat and use separate chopping boards, cooking utensils and plates. Harmful bacteria in raw meat, poultry and their juices can cross-contaminate cookedfood and lead to food poisoning, something your family won’t thank you for.
If there are leftovers from your barbecue, allow the food to cool before refrigerating,however, make sure to refrigerate food within two hours of cooking. Always rememberwith leftovers, use within three days and if in doubt, throw it out.