Atlantic Star Safety

Picnics

When the weather starts getting warmer, people start heading outdoors for picnics and other outdoor activities. But you have to be careful what food you take to keep your family from getting food poisoning.

Popular Picnic Foods and Food Safety

Here are some popular foods that people like to take on picnics:

Cold fried chicken
Sandwiches
Potato salad (or any other similar salad like macaroni salad)
Deviled eggs
Brownies or cookies
Chips

Okay, the only thing you have to worry about with brownies or cookies and chips is ants. But this page really isn't about ants on picnics. After all, this is a safety site, remember? There are concerns with the other foods though. While a picnic basket is a nice touch on a picnic, it's not going to do a good job of keeping cold foods cold, and that's really the key to keeping your food safe on picnics. Most sandwiches (except fluffernutters or peanut butter & jelly) have some sort of meat filling or a salad filling (think tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, etc.). And potato salad or macaroni salad usually have a mayonnaise base. Mayonnaise is made from eggs, and when eggs are not cold or completely cooked, they can make you sick if consumed.

If you must take these foods on your picnic, at least transport and store them in a cooler with plenty of ice. This will ensure that all your picnics are good ones.