Food Safety - Boating

"Keep Hot Foods Hot & Cold Foods Cold" Whether you are in your kitchen or enjoying the great outdoors, there are some food safety principles that remain constant. The first is "Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold." Meat and poultry products may contain bacteria that cause foodborne illness. They must be cooked to destroy these bacteria and held at temperatures that are either too hot or too cold for these bacteria to grow.

Most bacteria do not grow rapidly at temperatures below 40 °F or above 140 °F. The temperature range in between is known as the "Danger Zone." Bacteria multiply rapidly at these temperatures and can reach dangerous levels within 2 hours.

If you are traveling with cold foods, bring a cooler with a cold source. If you are cooking, use a hot campfire or portable stove. It is difficult to keep foods hot without a heat source when traveling, so it’s best to cook foods before leaving home, cool them, and transport them cold.

"Keep Everything Clean" The second principle is that bacteria present on raw meat and poultry products can be easily spread to other foods by juices dripping from packages, hands, or utensils. This is called cross-contamination. When transporting raw meat or poultry, double wrap or place the packages in plastic bags to prevent juices from the raw product from dripping on other foods.

Always wash your hands before and after handling food, and don’t use the same platter and utensils for raw and cooked meat and poultry. Soap and water are essential to cleanliness, so if you are going somewhere that will not have running water, bring it with you. Even disposable wipes will do.

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 2 hours. Above 90 °F, food can become dangerous after only 1 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 2-hour rule: no food should be in the "Danger Zone" for more than 2 hours? Well, unless you plan to eat that bucket of fried chicken within 2 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: Scale, gut, and clean fish as soon as they’re caught.
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.
Wrap fish, both whole and cleaned, in water-tight plastic and store on ice.
Keep 3 to 4 inches of ice on the bottom of the cooler. Alternate layers of fish and ice.
Store the cooler out of the sun and cover with a blanket.
Once home, eat fresh fish within 1 to 2 days or freeze them. For top quality, use frozen fish within 3 to 6 months.

Shellfish: Crabs, lobsters, and other shellfish must be kept alive until cooked.
Store in live wells or out of water in a bushel or laundry basket under wet burlap or seaweed.
Crabs and lobsters are best eaten the day they’re caught.
Live oysters should be cooked within 7 to 10 days.
Live mussels and clams should be cooked within 4 to 5 days.
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 dishwashing.

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.