EVERYONE loves a good barbecue in the summer, especially during the nice weather that we’ve been having this week.
You should balance your barbecue food with lean proteins like chicken, turkey or lean beef, plenty of colourful plant-based foods like fruit and vegetables and, of course, smart preparation methods.
If meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish) is prepared over an open flame the fat and meat juice drips on to the hot coal and forms a chemical called Benzopyrene which is then absorbed into the surface of the meat from the smoke. Benzopyrene is in the group one category of being able to cause cancer in humans.
But with a bit of care and attention you needn’t worry too much in the coming months. The strong advice here is to avoid burned or charred foods. You should cook your food thoroughly but do not overcook on the barbecue. Remove visible fat from meat before barbecuing and avoid direct contact of food with a naked flame.
Be careful about cross-contamination of foods particularly when you’re working on small counter on your barbecue or a small table in your garden. Keep raw meats away from each other and from other foods. Be careful with marinades and pastes that are brushed on to meat. Never use a brush or cutlery that has been used to baste raw meat on cooked food. And you should also consider wrapping food with aluminium foil during barbecuing.
Lee McCusker (BA; MSc; MSc; MSc; ANutr) is a registered nutritionist from Belfast and can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Email: attentive nutrition@gmail.com
