Did you know that every year food-borne illness is estimated to put 300,000 people in the hospital and kills 5000? Nearly 80 million people have infections related to food poisoning. So how can we protect ourselves? I've got some fundamental tips when it comes to shopping, storing, preparing, and serving food.

Temperature is key - so youl'll need to get a thermometer to check your refrigerator and freezer temperature. You'll also need an instant thermometer to check the internal temperature of the foods you cook. It's simply not enough to assume that your fridge "feels cold enough" or your meat "looks like it's done." For starters, make sure your fridge is at 40 degrees or less, and your freezer is at 0 degrees or less to minimize risk of bacterial growth.

At the store, shop for perishable foods last, and make sure to examine the packages for rips or tears. Avoid buying foods close to their expiration date - unless you plan on using them immediately. When it comes to canned goods, avoid those with dents or bulges and stick with pasteurized milk and juices.

Before handlings food, always wash your hands with soap and water for a good 20 seconds. Sanitize your cutting boards - wood or plastic - by running them through the dishwasher or washing with a dilute mix of chlorine bleach and water. Use one teaspoon of bleach to a quart of water. Avoid cross-contamination by keeping raw foods on separate plates and using separate knives from cooked foods.

Use that instant thermometer to test the internal temperature of cooked meat, poultry, and fish. While beef, veal, and lamb are safe to eat at 145 degrees, cook pork products and ground meat to 160 degrees, and poultry to 170 degrees. Eggs should be cooked until the yolk is firm.

Remember to refrigerate your leftovers promptly - within two hours of cooking. If you're at an outdoor event in hot weather, make that one hour. Keep your cold foods on ice, and your hot foods in a warming dish.

Time to clean up? Put your wet sponge in the microwave for 30-60 seconds after use. That's a sure way to kill bacteria and reduce contamination.

My bottom line? A little mindfulness when preparing food will go a long way to preventing food borne illness.

While there's a lot of talk about food safety in the news, it usually refers to the food before you get it home from the store. What about your summer backyard cooking? There's a lot of food handling going on between the fridge and the picnic table! Here are some of my favorite tips for keeping your outdoor BBQ safe (and avoiding food-borne illness) as well as delicious!

Watch the segment from TODAY

PREPARING FOOD:

1. Keep it clean. Wash you hands before and after handling raw foods - with soap and water. Out at the grill? Keep some hand sanitizer handy.

2. Keep raw and cooked ingredients separate. Don't cross contaminate. Use paper plates and plastic knives when cutting up raw meat and poultry, and throw away after using.

3. Don't use the marinade from raw foods on the cooked product. Before you marinate, put some of the marinade in a separate container for use on the cooked food. Never re-use the marinade from the raw foods.

COOKING AND SERVING FOOD:

1. Start with a clean grill. Get a stiff grill brush and make sure your grill is scoured clean, with no charred black bits. Not only will your food taste better, it will avoid any harmful HCAs (heterocyclic amines) formed from the burnt bits of meat/fat from your last grilling.

2. Cook to the proper temperature to kill bacteria. The visual of "push" test for doneness doesn't work. You need to cook foods to 160 degrees, the temperature at which bacteria are killed. Even pre-cooked foods, like hot dogs, need to reach 160 degrees for optimal safety. Like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, you don't want it too rare or too burnt. Avoid burnt meat, which forms HCAs (see above) and the related PCAs - both identified as cancer-promoting agents.

3. Buy an instant meat thermometer. That's the only way to test the temperature of your foods.

4. Keeps hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Salads, particularly with dressings, need to be kept cold. The easiest way is to take 2 glass bowls, one larger than the other. Fill the larger one with ice, and put the smaller bowl containing the salad in the ice bowl. Bacteria grow extremely well between 40 and 160 degrees. Refrigerate hot foods after 2 hours at room temperature (one hour if the outside temperature is over 80).

5. Keep it covered.  Keep your platters and bowls covered, as you don't want bug dive-bombing into your foods, and running the risk of insect-born contaminants.

TRANSPORTING FOODS:

1. Buy some gel packs. The re-usable gel packs are great to put around your cold foods, when on the road. Use a Styrofoam tub, or an insulated pack to transport.

2. Cook your hot foods "on site". If you'll be on the road for awhile, consider cooking your hot dish at your host's house. Keep it cold, as above, and pop it in the oven at your destination. Otherwise, use an insulated pack for your hot dish - and the "2 hour" rule still applies. The clock is ticking from the time the dish is at room temperature - 2 hours at room temp, up to 80 degrees - and just an hour at 80 degrees or higher.

I'm sure many of you think about this topic, and have a bunch of other good ideas... can you post some? When it comes to food safety, we need all the help we can get!