Food Safety Temperature Calculator
Look up safe minimum internal cooking temperatures for chicken, beef, pork, fish, and eggs per USDA guidelines.
Enter current temp to check doneness.
Cooking temperature kills bacteria. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) sets minimum safe internal temperatures based on the time required to eliminate pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli at a given heat level. These are the temperatures a food thermometer should read at the thickest part, away from bone.
USDA minimum safe temperatures:
- Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck): 165°F / 74°C — no resting time needed, but 3 minutes improves texture
- Ground meat (beef, pork, lamb): 160°F / 71°C — pathogens distributed throughout grind, so no pink is safe
- Whole beef / lamb steaks and roasts: 145°F / 63°C + 3 minutes rest
- Whole pork: 145°F / 63°C + 3 minutes rest (this changed from 160°F in 2011)
- Fish and shellfish: 145°F / 63°C
- Ham (raw): 145°F / 63°C + 3 minutes
- Ham (precooked, reheating): 140°F / 60°C
- Egg dishes and casseroles: 160°F / 71°C
- Leftovers: 165°F / 74°C
The resting time matters. During the 3-minute rest after reaching the target, the food continues to cook internally and pathogens are destroyed even as the surface cools slightly. Cutting into meat immediately loses juices and voids the rest time benefit.
Ground meat is a special case. Whole muscle cuts can have bacteria only on the surface — searing the outside kills them even if the center is pink. Ground meat mixes surface bacteria throughout, so the entire mass needs to reach the safe temperature.
Use a probe thermometer, not a visual check. Color is unreliable, and poultry can be safe while still looking slightly pink near the bone.
Carryover, and why you pull early
A big roast keeps climbing after it leaves the oven, sometimes by 5 to 10°F, because the hot outside is still feeding heat inward. Pull a roast a few degrees below target and let the rest period finish the job. A thin cut like a fish fillet or a burger carries over barely at all, so cook those to the number and take them off.
The 40 to 140°F window
Between 40°F and 140°F (4°C to 60°C) bacteria multiply fast, and the clock on that window is two hours, one if the room is above 90°F. That applies to raw food waiting on the counter and to cooked food cooling on the stove. Reaching a safe temperature once does not buy the food unlimited time afterwards.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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