What is the recommended poultry cooking temperature to ensure safety?

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Multiple Choice

What is the recommended poultry cooking temperature to ensure safety?

Poultry safety comes down to reaching a temperature high enough to kill harmful pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. Reaching a high internal temperature ensures that even thick or unevenly heated pieces are thoroughly pasteurized. Choosing 175°F (79°C) provides a margin beyond the minimum kill step. This extra degree or so helps ensure that all parts of the product, including dense areas, reach a safe level even if heat distribution isn’t perfectly uniform. It also accounts for small measurement variances from thermometers and the slight rise in temperature that can occur after you remove the poultry from the heat source (carryover cooking), so the final product stays safely above the danger zone. In contrast, lower target temperatures may be insufficient for thicker cuts or in environments where heat distribution is uneven, which is why they’re less reliable for guaranteeing safety in every bite.

Poultry safety comes down to reaching a temperature high enough to kill harmful pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. Reaching a high internal temperature ensures that even thick or unevenly heated pieces are thoroughly pasteurized.

Choosing 175°F (79°C) provides a margin beyond the minimum kill step. This extra degree or so helps ensure that all parts of the product, including dense areas, reach a safe level even if heat distribution isn’t perfectly uniform. It also accounts for small measurement variances from thermometers and the slight rise in temperature that can occur after you remove the poultry from the heat source (carryover cooking), so the final product stays safely above the danger zone.

In contrast, lower target temperatures may be insufficient for thicker cuts or in environments where heat distribution is uneven, which is why they’re less reliable for guaranteeing safety in every bite.

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