Keep your Memorial Day cookout safe with these essential tips!

Many will be grilling in lite of Memorial Day; however, the CDC warns that millions could get sick from grilling mistakes.

Meredith Carothers, a food and safety expert with USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline, shares some crucial tips to ensure your cookout is safe and enjoyable.

“I would say the biggest would be not fully cooking the foods on the grill. Using the same utensil that you use to put all the raw stuff on the grill to take the cooked stuff. Certain bacteria can live on surfaces for like 72 hours so. Think about it. You’re making dinner. You’ve touched chicken. Touched your spice containers without washing your hands. And then in the morning you’re cooking eggs and you want to use the same spice in your eggs or something. And then that gets all touched to other places. So yeah, it’s just crazy what your hands can move around.”

For more food safety tips, or if you have questions, click HERE.

Related Stories
Tyler Schuster is an ag industry advocate who mentors and supports the next generation, especially women finding their place in the cattle industry.
NCBA Chief Counsel Mary-Thomas Hart breaks down CAFO permits, EPA enforcement, and what cattle producers need to know as rules continue to evolve.
Rebuilding domestic textiles depends on automation and vertical integration, not tariffs or legacy manufacturing models.
RFD NEWS correspondent Frank McCaffrey spoke with U.S. Congressmen Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and John Rose (R-TN), who say bipartisan cooperation will be key to getting the Farm Bill to the president’s desk.
The EPA has approved over-the-top dicamba applications for the 2026 and 2027 growing seasons, outlining new rules that impact herbicide use for U.S. crop producers.
Top issues facing the beef industry took center stage at CattleCon this year in Nashville.

LATEST STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR:

Quinn Rutt of Upstream Ranch previews the Nebraska cattle operation’s 49th Annual Production Sale where buyers can expect standout sire groups and a blend of long-standing ranch practices with modern genetic selection.
Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, provides new updates on winter storm impacts and the outlook for rural power reliability.
Jessi Grote from the AgriSafe Network provides winter safety guidance for rural communities still recovering from the recent winter storm.
CattleCon 2026 officially kicks off Tuesday and continues through Thursday, bringing producers together to shape the future of the U.S. cattle industry.
Traders say that shift could eventually prompt the USDA to scale back soybean export projections, noting the outlook differs greatly for other grain commodities.
The federal government’s status is far from the only factor moving the markets on Friday. Two critical reports released today on producer inflation and the status of the U.S. cattle herd are also top of mind.