Poultry
Authority: USDA FSIS Pasteurization Time-Temperature Tables
USDA mandates 7D Salmonella reduction in poultry. While 165°F (74°C) achieves instant pasteurization (0 seconds), the same 99.99999% bacterial death rate is achieved at 150°F (65.5°C) held for 3.0 minutes, yielding juicier chicken breast.
| Parameter / Specification | Standard Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Instant Pasteurization Temp (0 sec) | 165 | °F (74.0°C) |
| 155°F Pasteurization Hold Time | 45 | seconds |
| 150°F Pasteurization Hold Time | 3.0 | minutes |
| 145°F Pasteurization Hold Time | 9.8 | minutes |
What '7-Log Reduction' Actually Means
USDA's poultry pasteurization standard targets a 7.0 log10 reduction in Salmonella -- meaning that out of every 10,000,000 bacteria present at the start, cooking must reduce that number to roughly 1 survivor. This is a statistical safety margin, not a claim that all bacteria are eliminated, and it's the basis for every time-temperature combination in the pasteurization tables, including the one summarized here.
Bacterial death from heat follows a time-temperature relationship rather than a single cutoff: 165°F achieves the required reduction essentially instantly, in under 10 seconds, while lower temperatures still reach the same 7-log reduction, just by holding that temperature for longer. FSIS tables extend this relationship down to roughly 136°F, at which point the required hold time stretches to over an hour.
History of the Time-Temperature Tables
USDA's cooking temperature regulations trace back to a series of Salmonella outbreaks in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Following outbreaks linked to beef in 1977, USDA issued an emergency rule setting a minimum cooking temperature of 145°F for cooked beef and roast beef. Industry feedback and subsequent research, notably by Goodfellow and Brown in 1978, led USDA to expand the regulation into the fuller set of validated time-temperature combinations that could still achieve the same 7-log Salmonella reduction.
That time-temperature framework, developed initially for beef, became the model extended to poultry pasteurization guidance -- which is why the tables allow a range of hold times rather than mandating a single fixed cooking temperature.