With summer just around the corner, you've probably uncovered the grill and maybe even had a picnic or two. Maybe your planning a graduation party or a backyard wedding reception, or pulling out all the stops for the mother of all Fourth of July barbecues.

Whatever you're hosting, there will be food. So it's important to ensure the guest list doesn't include foodborne pathogens.Undercooked meat, mayonnaise-based salads and cross-contamination are all recipes for a potential disaster. But by following some simple steps, it's easy to keep the party in the backyard instead of the emergency room."Hosting parties takes a great deal of work, and we often focus so much on preparing and serving food in a timely fashion that we don't think about preparing and serving food safely," says Deirdre Schlunegger, CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness, a national nonprofit, public health organization dedicated to preventing illness and death from foodborne pathogens.Her organization has put together a list of tips to safely host a party this summer.• Have a plan. Think about your refrigerator, freezer and oven space, especially for large parties, and how you'll manage to keep hot foods at 140 F or higher and cold foods at 40 F or below. If you need to use coolers, make sure to have plenty of clean ice. Don't rely on natural indoor or outdoor temperatures to keep foods at proper temperatures.• Wash your hands thoroughly and keep all work surfaces clean.• Wash produce, even prepackaged greens, to minimize bacterial contamination.• Keep cooking surfaces clean and sanitized. To avoid cross-contamination, don't prepare raw meat or poultry on the same surfaces as food that does not get cooked. Make sure kitchen counters, sponges, cutting boards and knives are well-scrubbed.• Defrost safely. Properly defrost meat by allocating 24 hours per 5 pounds to defrost in the refrigerator. If you must defrost quicker, place the meat in a large bowl filled with cold water and change the cold water bath every 30 minutes.• Cook to proper temperature (see chart), and use a thermometer to ensure food has been cooked enough to kill bacteria.• Remind guests who are bringing food to be sure to transport cold foods in a cooler below 40 F and to bring hot foods in an insulated carrier to ensure the temperature stays above 140 F. Prepared foods must be refrigerated or thrown out after two hours.• Refrigerate leftovers. Many people don't think twice about leaving food out all day. Remember: Two hours is the limit.Meat magicCutting into a piece of meat after cooking and seeing that it doesn't bleed isn't sufficient to making sure your food is safe to eat. That doesn't mean you need to cook it until it's the consistency of shoe leather either.You can still eat your steak rare, and you don't even need to be a magician to make sure that it's perfectly cooked.All you need is a meat thermometer and the chart above, which includes the proper temperatures as recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Services."It's important because this is the industry and the Department of Agriculture standard," says Chef Z, also known as Executive Chef Zoraida Rivera from the Broadway Grille in Jim Thorpe. "It will make your life easier to know that every time you cook at the right temperature your food will be perfect, and therefore tastier.""The best and only way to make sure bacteria have been killed and food is safe to eat is by cooking it to the correct internal temperature as measured by a food thermometer," said Food Safety and Inspection Service Administrator Al Almanza."It is a simple step that can stop your family and guests from getting foodborne illness."Recent research by USDA and the Food and Drug Administration determined that only 34 percent of the public use a food thermometer when cooking hamburgers."If you don't verify your burger's internal temperature, pathogens may still be present. When eaten, those hamburgers can make your guests and your family sick," says a USDA release.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million people suffer from foodborne illness each year, resulting in roughly 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.Don't become a statistic. Here are a few tips from the USDA to ensure food safety this summer:• Clean. Make sure to always wash your hands and surfaces with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before cooking and after handling raw meat or poultry. If cooking outside or away from a kitchen, pack clean cloths and moist towelettes for cleaning surfaces and hands.• Separate. When taking food off the grill, use clean utensils and platters. Don't put cooked food on the same platter that held raw meat or poultry.• Cook. Always use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of meat and poultry. Place the food thermometer in the thickest part of the food. (See chart for exact temperatures.)Whole cuts of pork, lamb, veal and of beef should be allowed to rest for three minutes before eating. A "rest time" is the amount of time the product remains at the final temperature, after it has been removed from a grill, oven, or other heat source.During the three minutes after meat is removed from the heat source, its temperature remains constant or continues to rise, which destroys pathogens. Meat and poultry cooked on a grill often browns very fast on the outside, and by using a food thermometer you can be sure items have reached a safe minimum internal temperature needed to destroy any harmful bacteria that may be present.• Chill. Place leftovers in shallow containers and refrigerate or freeze immediately. Discard food that has been sitting out longer than two hours.Information provided by Stop Foodborne Illness and USDA. For more information, visit

www.STOPfoodborneillness.org/awareness or AskKaren.gov, or call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-674-6854 Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.