Food Safety: Cook It Safely!
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Food Safety: Cook It Safely!

   

Food Safety: Cook It Safely!1

Jennifer Hillan2

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How can you reduce the risk of getting sick from bacteria in food? Cook food to a high enough temperature to kill the harmful bacteria! You can't just look at food to tell if it is safely cooked, so use a food thermometer. Cook foods to these safe temperatures:

(Place the thermometer in the thickest part of the food--away from bone, fat, and gristle.)

Food


 °F
Ground beef, pork, veal, lamb


 160
Ground turkey, chicken


 165
Fresh beef, veal, lamb--medium rare


 145
Fresh beef, veal, lamb--medium


 160
Fresh beef, veal, lamb--well done


 170
Poultry


 165
Fresh pork--medium


 160
Fresh pork--well done


 170
Ham--fresh, raw


 160
Ham--pre-cooked (to reheat)


 140
Eggs


 cook until white & yolk are firm
Egg dishes


 160
Fish


 cook until opaque & flakes easily with a fork
Leftovers, stuffing, casseroles


 165

Footnotes

1. La versión en español de este documento es Cuidado de Alimentos:¡Cocine a la Temperatura Adecuada! (FCS8633-Span).This document is FCS8633, one in a series of the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. First published: February 2000. Revised: August 2006. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2. Jennifer Hillan, MSH, RD, LD/N, ENAFS nutrition educator, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.


Copyright Information

This document is copyrighted by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) for the people of the State of Florida. UF/IFAS retains all rights under all conventions, but permits free reproduction by all agents and offices of the Cooperative Extension Service and the people of the State of Florida. Permission is granted to others to use these materials in part or in full for educational purposes, provided that full credit is given to the UF/IFAS, citing the publication, its source, and date of publication.