Before you brush basting sauce on sizzling steaks or chicken, brush up on the basics of safe grilling! Barbecues present special food safety concerns - marinades, eating outdoors, basting foods. Keep summer meals easy, breezy and healthy with these helpful grilling tips.

• After marinating meat, poultry or seafood, discard the marinade. This is easier to do if you marinate the food in a large re-sealable plastic food storage bag. Just throw out the bag.
• To use a marinade as a dipping or basting sauce, set aside a portion before adding raw food.
• Always wash hands thoroughly in hot, soapy water after handling raw meat, poultry or seafood.
• Let meat, poultry and seafood cook on the grill for at least 5 minutes after the last brush with a basting sauce. This prevents contamination since the basting brush was probably used on the food when it was raw.
• Discard any leftover basting sauce that has been in contact with raw meat, poultry or seafood.
• Test meat, poultry and seafood to ensure it’s cooked. Here are some guidelines:

• Use clean plates to transfer cooked food from grill to table. Never place cooked food on the same unwashed plate that held raw food. 
• Eat grilled foods while they are hot. Keep food covered until ready to serve. 
• Use separate serving utensils for meat and salads. 
• Discard food after 1 hour in the sun.