Safe Internal Cooking Temperatures

Making sure that your food is properly cooked is the best way to make sure your food is safe to eat. It is important to remember that bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes can be killed by heat. Colour is not a reliable indicator that your food is done and safe to eat.

Checking the temperature of your cooked meat, poultry, fish and seafood with a digital food thermometer is the only reliable way to make sure your food has reached a safe internal temperature. You can follow the chart below for the safe cooking temperatures of different foods. Here are a few tips to follow when checking to see if your food has reached the necessary safe internal temperature:

• Remove the food from the heat and insert the digital food thermometer through the thickest part of the meat, all the way to the middle. Make sure the thermometer is not touching any bones. For hamburgers, insert the digital food thermometer through the side of the patty, all the way to the middle.
• If you are cooking a number of pieces of meat, poultry, fish or seafood, make sure to insert the thermometer into several of the thickest pieces to verify that the appropriate temperature has been reached, because food can cook unevenly.
• Clean your digital food thermometer in warm, soapy water between temperature readings to avoid cross-contamination.

Internal Cooking Temperatures
You can't tell by looking. Use a digital food thermometer to be sure!

Food	Temperature
Beef, veal and lamb (pieces and whole cuts)
Medium-rare	63°C (145°F)
Medium	71°C (160°F)
Well done	77°C (170°F)
Pork
Pork (pieces and whole cuts)	71°C (160°F)
Poultry (for example, chicken, turkey, duck)
Pieces	74°C (165°F)
Whole	85°C (185°F)
Ground meat and meat mixtures (for example, burgers, sausages, meatballs, meatloaf, casseroles)
Beef, veal, lamb and pork	71°C (160°F)
Poultry	74°C (165°F)
Egg
Egg dishes	74°C (165°F)
Others
Others (for example, hot dogs, stuffing, leftovers, seafood)	74°C (165°F)