(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters are calling for temperatures to climb back in the upper 80s and low 90s for the next several days, and Iowans who will be out enjoying the summer weather need to remember to take precautions with their picnics. Kristi Zweifel, a dietician at Van Diest Medical Center in Webster City, says it’s wise to keep hot foods hot, and cold foods cold. “Normally, perishable foods can be left out for about two hours before they need to be chilled or discarded,” Zweifel says. “That keeps your food out of that danger zone too long. That’s where germs can grow and cause foodborne illness.” Zweifel says to take particular care with foods like chicken salad, potato salad and desserts, especially when it’s getting steamy.

“In the summertime, it’s hot and it’s humid outside, so then that the time amount changes,” she says. “We really don’t want you to leave your food out longer than an hour if the temperatures are above 90 degrees.” Larger entres might be safe for a while in a casserole container with built-in freezer packs, but most everything else needs to go in a cooler.

Picnic food safety (US FDA photo)

“When you’re serving food outside, extra cold sources to keep that food cool,” Zweifel says. “Packing your coolers with bags of ice, gel packs, or even freeze some bottles of water to keep it cold so that food stays cold and safe for as long as possible.” The F-D-A says cold, perishable food should be kept in the cooler at 40-degrees or colder, while hot food needs to be kept hot, at or above 140-degrees.