This week, we take a look at the hazards lurking in our kitchens. Food safety experts Ben Chapman and Don Schaffner give their best tips for avoiding foodborne illnesses, including their protocol for cooking raw meat, the diseases hiding in your salt, how to actually clean a sponge, and the foods they refuse to order from restaurants. Plus, we take a burger road trip with George Motz; Genevieve Taylor returns to the phone lines to take your grilling calls; and Kim Severson reflects on 250 years of American cooking.

Questions in this episode:

"I love grilling onions and corn, but I feel like I’ve hit a wall with veggies lately. Do you have any ideas about other veggies I can grill and different ways to think about grilling them?"

"The one thing I’ve never attempted on the grill is dessert. Do you have any insight on how I could go about doing that?"

"I'd love to be able to grill fish more often, but I always worry about fish falling through the grates. Any advice on smart approaches to grilling fish?"