How many of you out there know what temperature your ground beef should be cooked to? What about pork? Chicken?

As producers, it is our duty to provide consumers with the safest possible production we can. And in the scheme of things, I've said before that I call back our nutrient system is pretty darn rubber. Run into mail here. But even if we produce the safest production possible, the responsibility at the end all the same falls upon the consumer to be the one to cook it and handle it properly.   How am I the one responsible for someone getting sick when they didn't cook their meat all the way through, or that they cross contaminated using raw utensils on cooked food without washing them? Sounds crazy, but the meat industry all the time gets blamed for improper consumer handling when people get sick. Not to say that nosotros don't take responsibility when needed because that is indeed what a recall is doing. It is showing that the system put in place is working. And I applaud you all reading this for taking steps to be an informed consumer, those are the best kind. :) I know everyone has their little tips and tricks for figuring out doneness in meat, but actually a skillful meat thermometer is a great way to ensure proper temperatures are being met.

Straight from USDA the guidlines for proper internal temperatures are as follows:

USDA Recommended Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures

  • Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F equally measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to residue for at to the lowest degree iii minutes before carving or consuming. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to college temperatures.
  • Melt all raw basis beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160 °F every bit measured with a nutrient thermometer.
  • Melt all poultry to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F every bit measured with a food thermometer

Alright at present some of you are probably thinking 145 °F for beefiness!? Please take note, if you cook  your beef steak to the recommended temperature, Information technology Will Be OVER DONE! A better chart for determining doneness on beef products such as steaks can exist establish on sites equally unproblematic equally Wikipedia. It is important to note that this is for WHOLE Muscle cuts, Not ground meat.

Term (French) Clarification Temperature range[i] USDA recommended[2]
Extra-rare or Blue (bleu) very cerise and cold 46–49 °C 115–120 °F
Rare (saignant) cold red eye; soft 52–55 °C 125–130 °F
Medium rare (à bespeak) warm red center; firmer 55–60 °C 130–140 °F 145 °F
Medium (demi-anglais) pink and firm 60–65 °C 140–150 °F 160 °F
Medium well (cuit) small corporeality of pink in the eye 65–69 °C 150–155 °F
Well done (bien cuit) gray-brown throughout; business firm 71-100 °C 160-212 °F 170 °F
Overcooked blacken throughout; crispy >100 °C >212 °F >220 °F

Meat Temperature Chart, Meat Temperature, Steak Temperature

Hmmm… And so at present some of yous are probably wondering…? If I melt my steak to 120-130 and so it'south rare and juicy, am I taking a healthy safety risk in doing so!? Food Scientist Harold McGee (via Nutrient Network) gives us a GREAT explanation:
"…meats inevitably harbor leaner, and information technology takes temperatures of 160 degrees Fahrenheit or higher to guarantee the rapid destruction of the leaner that can cause homo affliction-temperatures at which meat is well-done and has lost much of its moisture. So is eating juicy, pink-cherry-red meat risky? Not if the cutting is an intact piece of healthy musculus tissue, a steak or chop, and its surface has been thoroughly cooked: bacteria are on the meat surfaces, not within. In other words, with whole cuts of meat it is the external temp, non the internal temp that must exceed 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Normal cooking methods-sautéing, grilling, roasting, braising, etc.-enhance surface temperatures far above 160 degrees Fahrenheit. (To get a sense of this, consider that meat merely begins to brown at 230 degrees Fahrenheit.) People very rarely get ill from rare or medium rare meat. Footing meats are riskier, because the contaminated meat surface is cleaved into small fragments and spread through the mass. The interior of a raw hamburger unremarkably does contain leaner, and is safest if cooked well done. Overwhelmingly, people become sick from the mode meat is handled in the habitation: from cantankerous-contamination, lack of cleanliness and holding meat at unsafe temps. Internal temperature should be the least of your worries."

So feel free to swallow the pink, juicy. medium rare steak! That's how we consume our steaks at the Dewey household and nosotros practise then in consummate confidence, no fear of the safety of our nutrient! In fact, rarely do I worry about the meat that I eat, whether it exist commercial beef we receive from large packinghouses or something that was butchered past united states of america (custom exempt). I recollect that should speak volumes for the integrity I distill in our meat manufacture and the people who are out in that location trying to brand the safest products possible.

Happy Fri everyone!

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