Prince George, B.C.-  This holiday weekend,  lots of  folks will be gathering with family  or  friends,  and  often  will  bring a  food   that is to be part of the meal. 

“Pot luck’s  are a popular idea this time of the year and they help  take the burden  off the host”  says Neelam Hayer,  Environmental Health Officer  with Northern Health.

There are some tips  for folks who  are preparing one dish in  their home, then packing it  to another where the meal will be served.

“Many cases  of food borne illness  start  in the  home kitchen, not because of the food, but because of how it was prepared” says Hayer.   Some of the more obvious food handling  errors when preparing the  food include:

• leaving perishable food out at room temperature for too long ( should not be out more than two hours)
• cooking large amounts of food ahead of time  and not properly cooling it.  Proper food cooling  means the food has been allowed to  drop from 60 degrees to 20 degrees Celsius within two hours  and from 20 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius within  4 hours.
• failing to keep hot foods hot  and cold foods cold

Hayer says hot food should be kept at 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Farenheit) and cold foods at 4 degrees Celsius ( 40 degrees Fahrenheit).

“It’s  important to verify food temperatures with a thermometer” says Hayer .     She advises  folks check with the host to  ensure hot foods can be kept warm  and  cold foods can be refrigerated  when the  dishes arrive.

Food borne illness is often  referred to as “stomach flu”  but  Hayer says there is no such thing  “Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and cramps,  muscle  pain and headache can often be attributed to a food borne illness.”

The  food borne illness can  be very  dangerous, and can be life threatening to the very old, the very young and those with chronic illnesses.