Cooking barbecued food properly

Always make sure you cook chicken, pork, burgers, sausages and kebabs until they're piping hot all the way through, none of the meat is pink and any juices run clear.

If you're barbecuing for lots of people, you could cook meat indoors and finish it off on the barbecue for added flavour.

Remember, when you reheat food on the barbecue, always make sure it's piping hot all the way through before serving.

Also:

* Wait until the charcoal is glowing red, with a powdery grey surface, before you start to cook.
* Make sure frozen food is properly thawed before you cook it.
* Turn the food regularly, and move it around the barbecue, to cook it evenly.
* Check that the centre of the food is piping hot.
* Don't assume that if meat is charred on the outside that it will be cooked properly on the inside.

Computer Energy Savings

Every time we leave on computers when not in use, we are wasting electricity. Following are a few simple tips to consider:

* Turn off all desktop computers and peripheral devices, including monitors and storage media devices, at night and during any prolonged absence such as weekends or vacation time. Turning off the equipment at night can cut the annual energy costs from 100 to 400 kWh per computer. Contrary to popular belief, turning equipment on and off does not shorten the life span of computers or related equipment.

* Computer manufacturers provide Energy Star power-management features that allow you to program your computer to go into "sleep" mode after a certain time interval. Information Services recommends that you set your power management to turn off your monitor after 10 minutes and your hard disks after 20 minutes. See Power Management for PC and Mac instructions for setting power management.

* Limit screen-saver use. A screen saver does not save energy. In fact, more often than not, a screen saver not only will draw power for the monitor, but also will keep the CPU from shutting down. You can set your computer to go from screen-saver to sleep mode.

* Purchase flat-screen monitors. They use significantly less energy and are not as hard on the eyes.

Food allergy and intolerance

Food allergy and food intolerance are both types of food sensitivity. When someone has a food allergy, their immune system reacts to a particular food as if it isn't safe. If someone has a severe food allergy, this can cause a life-threatening reaction.

Food intolerance doesn't involve the immune system and is generally not life-threatening. But if someone eats a food they are intolerant to, this could make them feel ill or affect their long-term health.

If you think you have a food allergy or intolerance, then it's important to get a proper diagnosis. Don't cut food groups out of your diet without medical advice, because you could miss out on important nutrients.

If you want to know when a food has been withdrawn or recalled because the allergy labelling is missing or incorrect or if there is any other food allergy risk, check out the Agency's Allergy Alerts page on food.gov.uk. You can also sign up for email or text alerts.