What Temperature Should Chicken

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What temperature should chicken and other poultry products be cooked to?

Food handlers in both the home and commercial environments should be educated on these basic facts to maintain food safety for family member and customers.

Chicken, and other poultry products, can be tricky to cook. Unlike beef or lamb which is generally safe to eat rare or medium rare, you want your chicken cooked thoroughly to avoid getting salmonella poising. The correct cooking temperature for poultry, and all proteins, is critical to destroying pathogens such as salmonella, which can cause severe illness and is extremely heat-resistant.

Food Fact: The safe internal temperature for

cooked chicken is 165° Fahrenheit for at least

 15 seconds.

An internal probe thermometer is the only way to determining the internal temperature of your poultry, and if you’re cooking a large pieces or complete birds, the thermometer should be inserted into the thickest part of the meat and should not touch the bone.

As stated earlier 165° for 15 seconds is the safe internal temperature for both the white meat and dark meat to maintain food safety standards and reduce the risk of salmonella poising.

For more food handler and food safety training please visit our site to take one of our food handler courses.

Foodsafety.gov has a “Safe Minimum” cooking temperature chart for food handlers to use as a guide in the home and commercial environments.

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