Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Safety Tips

The Super Bowl is the ultimate day for sports fan and marathon eaters. When people think about safety and the Super Bowl, they focus mostly on drinking safety, and not food safety.

Super Bowl Sunday is no time to ignore food safety, especially when there is also alcohol in the mix. Keep your guests and their stomachs happy by following these basic food safety tips at your Super Bowl Sunday party.

Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Safety Tips

Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Safety Tip 1: Keep Hot Foods Hot

All appetizers and dishes that are served hot should be kept hot. Try serving hot foods when guests are ready for them, rather than letting the foods sit out. Use sterno if you have a large buffet, or cook foods that can be cooked in and served out of a crock pot like chili, beef stew, Italian meatballs or Swedish meatballs.

Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Safety Tip 2: Keep Cold Foods Cold

Any food that needs refrigeration should not sit out for longer than two hours. Most likely any cold seafood dishes that are served, including shrimp cocktail won't last long anyway. Be aware of leaving sour cream-based oryogurt-based dips out, and be sure to put them back in the refrigerator after two hours.

Foods like hard cheese can sit out for longer, and so can most fruits.

Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Safety Tip 3: Serve Hot or Cold Foods in Stages

The best way to maintain food safety during your gathering is to serve different temperature foods in stages. It may look nice to have all the food laid out for guests, but it is not the safest way to serve foods. Start by serving any vegetable and dip platters, then move on to hot appetizers.

Once those foods have been eaten and guests are ready for the main courses, cover and store any leftover foods in the refrigerator.

Super Bowl Sunday Party Food Safety Tip 4: Keep the Snacks Coming

Keeping an ample supply of snacks that can be served at room temperature is another way to help keep guests safe. A cheese and cracker platter, a bowl of Doritos, chips,pretzels, a pickle and olive plate, are all snack staples that should be replenished throughout the party.