Food Safety Tips for Dining Out

Key points

Going out to eat? Choose a restaurant that keeps food safety on the menu. Follow these tips to protect yourself from food poisoning before, during, and after dining out.

Person looking at a menu outside a restaurant

What you need to know

Take steps before, during, and after dining out to avoid food poisoning.

  • Before: Check restaurant inspection scores.
  • During: Wash your hands before eating. When ordering, ask for certain foods to be cooked well done. Only eat hot foods if served hot and cold foods if served cold.
  • After: Refrigerate leftovers promptly, and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Report it to your local health department if you get sick and think it's from dining out.

Before dining out

Check the restaurant's inspection score to see if it meets food safety standards. Look for the score in the restaurant or on your health department's website.

During your visit

Once at the restaurant, follow these tips:

  • Look for certificates showing that kitchen managers are trained in food safety. Proper training can improve safety practices and reduce risk.
  • Before eating, wash your hands with soap and running water. This helps prevent germs spreading to your food or mouth.
  • Order certain foods cooked well done.
    • This includes poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, and ground meats, such as hamburgers.
    • Thoroughly cooking these foods helps kill germs.
  • Ask your server if they use pasteurized eggs in certain foods before ordering them.
    • This includes Caesar salad dressing, custards, tiramisu, and hollandaise sauce.
    • If not pasteurized, raw or undercooked eggs can make you sick.
  • Avoid lukewarm food.
    • Make sure hot food is served hot and cold food is served cold, including at buffets and salad bars.
    • Keeping food at proper temperatures slows the growth of germs.

After dining out

  • Refrigerate leftovers quickly, within 2 hours of when food was prepared (within 1 hour if the food is in warm environments such as in a hot car or at a picnic).
  • Eat leftovers within 3–4 days. Throw them out after that time.
  • Report food poisoning if you think you or someone you know got sick from food.
    • You can report it to your local health department. Reporting helps the health department identify outbreaks and keep others from getting sick.
    • Reporting is important, even if you don't know what food made you sick.

More information

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Content Source:
National Center for Environmental Health