Proper Cooking Temperatures for Safe Food At Home: Use Proper Cooking Temperatures to Ensure Safe Food (2024)

FAQs

Proper Cooking Temperatures for Safe Food At Home: Use Proper Cooking Temperatures to Ensure Safe Food? ›

Note: There are three important temperatures to remember when cooking meat or eggs at home: Eggs and all ground meats must be cooked to 160°F; poultry and fowl to 165°F; and fresh meat steaks, chops and roasts to 145°F. Use a thermometer to check temperatures.

Note: There are three important temperatures to remember when cooking meat or eggs at home: Eggs and all ground meats must be cooked to 160°F; poultry and fowl to 165°F; and fresh meat steaks, chops and roasts to 145°F. Use a thermometer to check temperatures.

Keep hot food hot—at or above 140 °F. Place cooked food in chafing dishes, preheated steam tables, warming trays, and/or slow cookers. Keep cold food cold—at or below 40 °F.

Chilling food does not kill bacteria, but it does stop them from growing to harmful levels. Because of this, it is a legal requirement that perishable foods should be kept refrigerated at 8ºC or below. Frozen food should ideally be kept at a temperature at or below -18ºC.

Always use a thermometer to check food temperatures. 135°F to 41°F or below within a total of six hours. The faster food is cooled, the better. Maintain cold food at 41°F or below.

The Danger Zone is the optimal temperature range for harmful bacteria to thrive in food. The Danger Zone temperature for food is between 8 and 63 °C. To avoid the risk of foodborne illnesses, most hot food should be cooked to above 63 °C (some foods such as rare beef are an exception to this).

Food held between 5oC and 60oC for less than 2 hours can be used, sold or put back in the refrigerator to use later. Food held between 5oC and 60oC for 2-4 hours can still be used or sold, but can't be put back in the fridge. Food held between 5oC and 60oC for 4 hours or more must be thrown away.

It is a myth that bacteria are killed at temperatures below 40 degrees. In fact, bacteria growth is slowed, but not stopped. The only way to kill bacteria by temperature is by cooking food at temperatures of 165 degrees or more. Bacteria also die in highly acidic environments like pickle juice.

What is the Danger Zone for food temperature? ›

The "Danger Zone" (40 °F-140 °F)

Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes.

All poultry should reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F (73.9 °C) as measured with a food thermometer. A whole chicken must reach this temperature throughout the bird. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast.

Myth: You shouldn't put hot foods in the refrigerator.

If you leave food out to cool and forget about it after 2 hours, throw it away. Bacteria can grow rapidly on food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

Clean—Wash hands and surfaces often. Separate—Don't cross-contaminate. Cook—Cook to proper temperatures, checking with a food thermometer. Chill—Refrigerate promptly.

Cold foods must be maintained at 41℉ or less. Hot food must be maintained at 135℉ or above. Be sure to check the temperature at least every four hours. Checking the temperature every two hours would be ideal to leave time for corrective action.

Preheat hot holding equipment before you put any food in it. Putting food into cold equipment means it might not be kept hot enough to stop harmful bacteria growing. THINK TWICE! Hot food must be kept at 63°C or above, except for certain exceptions.

After cooking, all potentially hazardous foods must be held at a minimum 60°C / 140°F until service. All potentially hazardous foods must be reheated, within a 2 hour period, to at least their specified minimum internal cooking temperature. All poultry pieces must be reheated to at least 74°C / 165°F.

Discard any refrigerated perishable food (such as meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs or leftovers) that has been at refrigerator temperatures above 40°F for four hours or more.