Birds Don’t Have to Be So Hot

Last week, Iowa State University issued a news release about how long it takes to cook a turkey if you place it into the oven frozen. The answer: 5.5 hours for a 13- to 15-pound bird cooked in a 325°F oven.

However, what really caught my attention was something a little lower in the release—that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had issued a statement earlier this year saying that poultry needs to reach an internal temperature of only 165°F to be fully cooked. For decades, the conventional wisdom has been that a bird isn’t safe to eat until its meat reaches 180°F.

The Iowa State news release attributed USDA’s safety guideline on poultry to new tests by the agency. I was curious and called USDA to find out about the tests and the new temperature recommendation.

It seems the Iowa folks got the number right but the attribution wrong, according to Diane Van, who manages USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline, which is administered by the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (see http://www.fsis.usda.gov/).

The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food is a standing group of mostly nongovernmental experts that offers guidance to USDA and to the Food and Drug Administration. Van says that last year, USDA asked to committee to address the question, “What is the minimum safe internal temperature that poultry can be cooked to?”

The question had been triggered by a spate of illnesses in Michigan and Minnesota associated with consumption of microwavable poultry entrees. Although the entrees appeared to be fully cooked, they weren’t. When people microwaved them only until they were hot enough to be palatable, the process failed to kill all the Salmonella germs in the products.

The expert panel conducted a review of published data and in March “advised us that 165° is a safe minimum internal temperature,” says Van. Neither USDA scientists nor panel members conducted tests to confirm the number. The group’s conclusion was based strictly on its review of past studies of cooked poultry.

USDA started, as of April, citing the new, lower minimum temperature for a safely cooked bird.

In its report to USDA, the expert panel noted, “This temperature [165°F] will destroy Salmonella, the most heat resistant pathogen of public health concern in raw poultry.” However, at that point of doneness, turkey flesh may still be pink and its texture a bit rubbery, the report notes. On those grounds, it said, “higher final temperatures may be needed for consumer acceptability and palatability”—probably around 170°F for breast meat and 180°F for thigh meat.

All of this reinforces the value of having a meat thermometer ready when cooking a whole bird or a turkey breast this week.

Of course, all of this becomes moot if the cook doesn’t practice good hygiene—religiously washing hands with soap after touching raw meats and carefully cleaning all surfaces and utensils that make contact with raw meat and juices.