Safe Food Practices
The keys to basic food safety are cooking it to the right temperature and storing it properly.
Foods are properly cooked when they are heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Properly storing foods preserves food quality and prevents both spoilage and food poisoning. Consult the easy-to-read charts below to learn how to cook and store your food the right way.
- Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures: Cook all food to these minimum internal temperatures as measured with a food thermometer for safety.
- Cold Food Storage Chart: Storage guidelines for home-refrigerated foods to keep them from spoiling or becoming dangerous to eat.
- Meat and Poultry Charts: Use these timetables to determine how long to cook meat & poultry products. Times are approximate.
Food Safety in a Disaster or Emergency: How to keep food safe during and after an emergency, such as a flood, fire, national disaster, or the loss of power.
Safe Food Practices Documents
- GI-01 Beef, Lamb, and Veal Roasting Charts
- GI-02 Cold Food Storage Chart
- GI-03 Food Safety by Type of Food
- GI-04 Pork Roasting Charts
- GI-05 Ham Cooking Charts
- GI-06 Poultry Roasting Charts
- GI-07 Safe Minimum Cooking Temperature Charts
- GI-08 Turkey Roasting Charts
- GI-09 Turkey Thawing Charts
- GI-10 Refrigeration Food Safety During a Power Outage
- GI-11 Frozen Food Safety During a Power Outage
- GI-12 Report a Problem with Food