The Best Kitchen Gadget to Prevent Salmonella Is a Good Meat Probe
The author argues that using a high-quality, instant-read meat thermometer is the most effective way to prevent foodborne illnesses like salmonella. Despite the importance of food safety, many consumers avoid using thermometers due to the slow response times of cheaper models.
Why it matters
Proper food temperature monitoring is a critical public health practice that is often neglected by home cooks.
Salmonella, and its attendant havoc on the GI tract, are these days a hallmark of American summer—not just in meat and eggs but, increasingly, fresh produce, as climate change brings warmer and wetter summers. Foodborne bacteria enjoy the same weather as corn and tomatoes and are happy to hitch a ride.
“When we see warmer temperatures, that is going to create conditions that are favorable for bacteria like salmonella or parasites like cyclospora to grow,” Ellen Shumaker, a food safety expert at NC State Extension, told WIRED this month.
Luckily, there's already a simple preventive technology known to be wildly effective against salmonella. It's called “cooking.” While anything above the USDA-recommended food-safe temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit can kill salmonella if cooked for long enough, the bacterium is dead nearly immediately above 165 degrees.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in