Thread: Grilling chicken and cross contamination safety?

I'm not a food safety nut, however I've made a few observations when watching people grilling chicken.



1) Most people use the same tongs to put the raw chicken on the grill, turn it while it's grilling and serve it once it's cooked. Some people will not use tongs to handle the raw chicken, putting it on the grill with their fingers instead, but then when the first side is down they'll use the tongs to flip it, and when the chicken is cooked again the same tongs to pick it up off the grill.



2) Many recipes I read call for marinating the chicken, then reserving the marinade and use it to lather the chicken while it's grilling. How much time should there be between the last lathering and the time you take the chicken off the grill to avoid cross contamination (off the raw chicken juice over the cooked chicken)?