Food Safety Temperature Chart

Why internal temperature is the number that matters

Cooking is the one step in food handling where you can be certain you have made the food safe, and the way to know is a thermometer, not a timer and not the color of the meat. Bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli are killed by heat, and what matters is the temperature reached at the coldest point inside the food, held there long enough. A roast can look browned and juicy on the outside and still be under the safe minimum an inch from the center.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service publishes a safe minimum internal temperature chart, and the numbers on this page come from it. The FDA's safe food handling guidance covers the same ground for consumers, and foodsafety.gov keeps a printable version you can stick on the fridge.

The chart below and the calculator above agree by design. Pick a food in the calculator and it returns the minimum temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius, the rest time, and the detail people usually forget, such as whether ground poultry follows the poultry rule or the ground meat rule.

Safe minimum internal temperatures at a glance

Everything the calculator returns, in one table. Cook to the temperature in the third column at the coldest point in the food, then let it rest.

Two patterns are worth noticing. Ground meat needs a higher temperature than whole cuts of the same animal, because grinding moves surface bacteria into the middle. And poultry sits at the top of the table at 165°F regardless of the cut, because poultry carries a higher risk than beef or pork.

The danger zone: 40°F to 140°F

Cook temperatures are only half the story. The other half is the range where bacteria multiply fastest, which is between 40°F and 140°F. Food safety agencies call it the danger zone, and the practical rule is that perishable food should not sit in it for more than two hours, or one hour when the air temperature is above 90°F. That clock includes the time the food spends on the counter cooling before it goes in the fridge.

Keeping food out of that band is mostly about speed. Refrigerate leftovers in shallow containers so they cool fast, thaw frozen meat in the fridge rather than on the counter, and hold hot food above 140°F if it is going to sit out at a party. A slow cooker on the warm setting usually holds food near 165°F, which is comfortably above the line.

The CDC tracks the cost of getting this wrong. Its food safety pages estimate that foodborne illness sickens millions of Americans each year, and improper holding temperatures are one of the leading causes. None of that requires special equipment to avoid. A $15 digital thermometer and a habit of checking is most of it.

Worked example: a roast chicken to 165°F

Say you are roasting a 4-pound chicken at 425°F. The oven temperature is a cooking choice; the internal temperature is a safety requirement. Here is what the numbers look like.

• Target internal temperature: 165°F (74°C)
• Where to measure: the thickest part of the thigh, avoiding the bone
• Typical time at 425°F for a 4-pound bird: 55 to 65 minutes
• Rest after removing from the oven: 10 to 15 minutes
• Temperature rise during rest: usually 5°F to 10°F

That last line is why cooks pull poultry a few degrees early. A bird taken out at 160°F will coast up to 165°F while it rests on the board, and the juices redistribute so the meat does not run dry when you carve it. If the thermometer reads 150°F at 50 minutes, put it back and check again in 10 minutes rather than guessing.

The breast and the thigh will not agree. On most birds the thigh reads about 10°F higher than the breast, so if you only check one spot, check the thigh, because it is the slower part to reach temperature in the center of the joint. If the breast hits 165°F first, tent the bird with foil and keep going until the thigh catches up.

Worked example: burgers at 160°F

Ground beef is the food people most often undercook, because a pink middle looks appetizing and color is a poor guide. The safe minimum is 160°F (71°C) measured in the center of the patty, and here is a typical cook.

• Patty weight: 1/3 pound, about 3/4 inch thick
• Pan or grill temperature: 400°F to 450°F
• Time per side: about 4 minutes for a 160°F center
• Rest: 2 to 3 minutes, which also lets the juices settle

If you like a pink burger, the honest answer is that 145°F in ground beef is below the USDA safe minimum. The risk is small but real, and it is higher for children, pregnant women, older adults and anyone with a weakened immune system. Whole cuts are different: a steak can safely be served at 145°F or lower because the bacteria stay on the surface, which the sear takes care of. Ground meat has no safe surface, because the surface is now the inside.

One habit that helps: check the temperature of the first patty off the grill, then use that time as your benchmark for the rest of the batch rather than poking every burger and losing the juices.

How to use a thermometer so the number is real

A reading is only as good as the spot you measured. Four rules cover almost every mistake:

• Avoid bone and fat. Both conduct heat differently from meat and will give you a false high or low reading.
• Go to the center. Push the probe in from the side of a thin cut like a burger or a chicken breast so you can find the middle.
• Wait for the number to settle. Digital thermometers need a few seconds. A number that is still climbing is not the answer yet.
• Clean the probe between checks. Wiping it with a soapy cloth between raw and cooked food prevents the cross-contamination you were trying to avoid.

Thermometers also drift. An ice bath is a free calibration check: fill a glass with crushed ice and water, stir, and the probe should read 32°F. If it is off by 5°F, you now know to add or subtract that from every reading, or to replace the thermometer. The same check in boiling water should read 212°F at sea level, and a little lower if you live at altitude.

Finally, treat this page as a reference rather than advice about your dinner. The numbers come from published USDA guidance and apply to ordinary home cooking. If you are cooking for someone in a high-risk group, or you are preserving food, follow the full guidance at the source rather than a single temperature.