College football season is here -- and for many fans, that means tailgating.
However, experts at Virginia Tech want you to be aware of the unique food safety challenges involved.
Melissa Wright, a food safety specialist, says to make sure you’re not leaving food in the dangerous zone, which is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Allowing food to stay in that zone for longer than 2 hours can cause bacteria to multiply rapidly.
But if it’s hot outside -- that window closes to one hour.
“Your meats, poultry, seafood, those kind of things, keep them below 40 degrees. So they should be in their own separate cooler, especially if they’re raw. Don’t mix those in a cooler, with your drinks and your condiments. So we want to separate,” Wright said.
She also tells us you may have had a foodborne illness, and chalked it up to just eating the wrong thing.