Don't just grab a container out of the garage and put food in it. Sanitize your containers with a chlorine bleach solution to remove contamination that may have occurred while it was stored. He reminded tailgaters to keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot. Keep cold foods below 40 F, which is about the temperature inside your refrigerator, he said. Keep hot foods above 140 F, which is the serving temperature required by the health department for restaurants.
Bacteria do very well at that temperature and grow to dangerous levels very quickly.
Thoroughly cook or reheat hot foods, he said. Heating will kill bacteria. And use fresh food, the food scientist said. That's because it's more difficult to keep food safe in a tailgating situation. Leave food in its original container until time to use, and separate foods in self-sealing bags.