General information
These figures are US government food-safety guidance for home cooks, reproduced in plain terms. They are not medical advice. If you think someone has food poisoning, contact a doctor or other qualified health professional. Readers outside the United States should also check their own national food-safety authority.
How to use this page
Every temperature and safety time that appears anywhere on The Home Range is listed here, with its Celsius conversion and the document it comes from. All of them come from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Celsius figures are calculated from the Fahrenheit values and rounded to one decimal place.
The guides explain the reasons behind these numbers. This page is the one to keep open while you cook: the figures are the same whichever method you use, whether the heat comes from a pan, an oven, a pot of simmering liquid or a microwave.
Safe minimum internal temperatures
These are the temperatures the thickest part of the food should reach, measured with a food thermometer. They come from the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.
| Food | Temperature | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Beef, pork, veal and lamb: steaks, chops and roasts | 145°F (62.8°C) and a 3 minute rest | FSIS chart |
| Ground meats: beef, pork, veal and lamb | 160°F (71.1°C) | FSIS chart |
| All poultry: whole, pieces and ground | 165°F (73.9°C) | FSIS chart |
| Egg dishes | 160°F (71.1°C) | FSIS chart |
| Fin fish | 145°F (62.8°C) | FSIS chart |
| Leftovers and casseroles | 165°F (73.9°C) | FSIS chart; FSIS leftovers guidance |
The 3 minute rest for whole cuts is part of the safety guidance, not just a matter of juiciness: the meat stays at a high temperature for those minutes after it leaves the heat. Ground meats and poultry have no such rest in the chart: they must reach their figure, and the reading is the check.
Time out of the refrigerator
FSIS's guidance on the danger zone sets out how temperature and time work together for food that is not being cooked.
| Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 40°F to 140°F (4.4°C to 60°C) | The danger zone, where bacteria grow most rapidly | FSIS danger zone |
| As little as 20 minutes | How quickly bacteria can double in number in the danger zone | FSIS danger zone |
| 2 hours | The longest perishable food should be left out at room temperature | FSIS danger zone |
| 1 hour | The limit instead when the temperature is above 90°F (32.2°C), such as at a summer picnic | FSIS danger zone |
| 140°F (60°C) or above | Where hot food should be kept while it waits to be served | FSIS danger zone |
Leftovers
| Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Within 2 hours | Refrigerate leftovers, divided into shallow containers so they cool quickly | FSIS leftovers |
| 3 to 4 days | How long refrigerated leftovers should be kept before they are eaten or frozen | FSIS leftovers |
| 165°F (73.9°C) | The temperature to reheat leftovers to, checked with a thermometer | FSIS leftovers |
Reheating in a microwave oven needs extra care. FSIS warns that microwaves can heat food unevenly and leave cold spots where harmful bacteria survive, so stir or turn the food partway through and check the temperature in more than one place.
Other kitchen figures
| Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 212°F (100°C) | The boiling point of water at sea level. Water cannot get hotter than this in an open pot, and it boils at lower temperatures at altitude, so boiled and simmered food takes longer high up. | FSIS high altitude cooking |
| 32°F (0°C) | What an accurate food thermometer should read in a glass of ice water | FSIS kitchen thermometers |
| At least 20 seconds | How long to scrub hands with soap before rinsing | FSIS washing food |
Using a food thermometer
FSIS advises placing the thermometer in the thickest part of the food, the part that heats last, and checking its accuracy in ice water. A few habits make readings more reliable:
- Check thin and thick pieces separately; a batch of chicken pieces of different sizes will not finish together.
- For a whole bird or a large roast, check more than one spot.
- For microwaved food, check in several places because of cold spots.
Colour, firmness and cooking time are useful signs of doneness, and the guides discuss them. None of them tells you that food has reached a safe temperature. Only a thermometer does that.
Example: reading the table for one meal
Worked example
An illustration of how to use the table; it describes no real household. A cook is making a meatloaf from ground beef, a dish of baked chicken thighs and a vegetable casserole, and plans to keep some of each for later.
- The meatloaf is a ground meat, so the figure is 160°F (71.1°C), read in the centre of the loaf.
- The chicken is poultry, so each thigh should reach 165°F (73.9°C), checked in the thickest part and away from the bone.
- The casserole falls under leftovers and casseroles: 165°F (73.9°C) in the middle of the dish.
- After the meal, everything left over goes into shallow containers in the refrigerator within 2 hours, and is eaten within 3 to 4 days, reheated to 165°F (73.9°C).
What is not on this page
This site prints a temperature or safety time only when an FSIS or FDA document gives it. That rule leaves out several numbers that cooking books often quote:
- oven settings for particular dishes, which vary by recipe and appliance;
- the temperature range of a simmer, which the guides describe by its bubbles instead;
- the surface temperature at which browning speeds up;
- oil temperatures for frying and the smoke points of cooking fats;
- storage times for raw ingredients.
For any of those, follow a reliable recipe and the label on the product, and use the safe minimum internal temperatures above as the safety check. The kitchen food safety guide explains the clean, separate, cook and chill habits that go with these figures, as described by FoodSafety.gov.
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