Safe internal cooking temperatures for meat: the USDA chart and where chefs disagree

The USDA publishes a chart of safe minimum internal temperatures for meat. The chart is widely cited but widely misunderstood — the numbers are instant-killtemperatures, the point at which pathogens die almost immediately. Pathogens also die at lower temperatures, just more slowly. This is why sous-vide cooking at 130°F produces safe medium-rare beef despite being below the USDA chart’s 145°F figure.

The USDA chart (2026)

Why ground meat needs higher temps than whole cuts

On a whole steak, pathogens live on the surface only. The moment you sear it, surface bacteria die; the interior is irrelevant because it was never exposed to surface contamination.

On ground meat, surface bacteria are mixed throughout the product during grinding. Every spot of the patty has the same pathogen risk as the original surface. So you have to bring the interior to a temperature that kills pathogens throughout — hence 160°F, well above the 145°F a steak needs.

Exception: whole-muscle beef hand-ground at home or by a butcher you trust (where you saw the steak go in) is safer than mass-distributed ground beef where one contaminated carcass can contaminate thousands of pounds.

The time-temperature trade-off

Pasteurisation isn’t a single temperature; it’s a temperature-time curve. Salmonella, for instance, is killed:

• Instantly at 165°F (74°C)
• In about 10 seconds at 160°F (71°C)
• In about 9 minutes at 145°F (63°C)
• In about 30 minutes at 135°F (57°C)
• In about 4 hours at 130°F (54°C)

This is the basis of sous-vide cooking. A steak held at 130°F for 4 hours is just as bacteriologically safe as a steak briefly hit at 165°F — and dramatically more tender. The USDA chart is conservative because it doesn’t encode the time-axis.

Where chefs cook lower than the USDA chart

Three classic disagreements:

Beef

USDA: 145°F (medium). Steakhouse medium-rare: 130-135°F. For whole muscle (steak, roast), the surface is the only contaminated area; sear it and the inside can be much lower temperature without risk. Restaurant medium-rare is absolutely safe by sous-vide-pasteurisation standards.

Pork

USDA dropped pork from 160°F to 145°F in 2011, formally acknowledging that the old higher number was conservative. Modern pork is essentially trichinella-free in the commercial supply (US incidence: ~3-4 cases per year nationally, mostly from wild game, not farm pork). Most chefs cook pork to 140-145°F for a slight blush of pink.

Eggs

USDA: 160°F. Many chefs make eggs at 145-150°F (custards, carbonara, hollandaise) because the eggs have been pasteurised in shell or via long-hold time. Restaurant Caesar dressing, runny yolks on burgers, and similar preparations are common and safe for healthy adults but riskier for immunocompromised diners.

Where the chart is not negotiable

• Poultry. Salmonella prevalence in chicken is high (~25% of grocery-store chicken samples in CDC data). 165°F instant-kill is sensible. Sous-vide chicken at 145°F for 90 minutes works for chefs but requires confidence in temperature and timing.
• Ground meat.See above — surface contamination is mixed throughout. Don’t cook ground beef rare unless you ground it yourself from known-safe whole muscle.
• Reheated leftovers. Bacteria can multiply if food has been improperly cooled. Reheating to 165°F kills anything that may have grown.
• Pregnant, immunocompromised, very young, very old.Stick to the chart. The time-temperature equivalence works statistically but a single failed step is more dangerous to vulnerable diners.

How to actually measure

Buy a thermocouple-style instant-read thermometer (Thermapen and similar). Insert into the thickest part of the meat, avoiding bone. Read in 2-4 seconds. Cheaper bimetal-coil thermometers take 15-30 seconds and lose 5-10°F of accuracy in the process.

For roasts and turkeys, use a leave-in probe attached to a digital readout outside the oven. Set alarm at the target temperature. Pull the meat at 5°F below target to account for carryover cooking during the rest period.

The pragmatic bottom line

• Poultry, ground meat, leftovers: follow the chart.
• Whole-muscle beef and pork: cook to your preferred doneness; surface contamination is killed by the sear.
• Sous-vide: time-temperature equivalence is real. Use a published table from a reputable source (Modernist Cuisine, Douglas Baldwin’s sous-vide guide).

Convert between °F and °C using our oven temperature converter. For why colour is unreliable as a doneness indicator (especially in pork and chicken), see the cooking methodology page.

Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, “Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures” (2024 ed.); Douglas Baldwin, Sous Vide Cooking Practical Guide; CDC Salmonella in Poultry surveillance reports 2023.