Re: [pf] cooking temperatures - bacteria.

· Excellent, Molly; just what I was looking for. (Minimal version below.)

· My daughter was telling me that, to kill germs on plates and cutlery,
there's no need for antiseptic or anti-bacterial treatment, just wash in
sufficiently hot water. (Ordinary tap water might or might not do it.)

· I reminded her about the difference between bacteria (living - can be
killed by cooking them) and viruses, which antiseptics or anti-bacterials
don't touch, so they need sufficiently high temperatures for a sufficiently
long time. 

· From memory, for viruses that's at _least_ boiling for half an hour, and
to be sure, 5 minutes at full pressure in a pressure-cooker (remember those?).

· My father's research, while at McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario in
the 1950s and 60s, was on tobacco mosaic virus; the pots (for tomato,
tobacco, and other plants) to be used in the research greenhouse had to be
in an autoclave (huge pressure-cooker) for a certain time - from memory, 20
minutes, to guarantee they had no virus on them.

· Personally I am willing to take certain risks, so
hand-washed-&-drained-dry plates etc. is fine; the odd bacteria that might
be left will _certainly_ be dealt-with by my gut flora and my immune system.

· I don't believe it is healthy, in the long run, to expect to live without
attack by microbes.

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At 18:18 15/7/2001 -0400, Molly Williams wrote:
>Not sure if this is what you are looking for but ...
>
>From /Joy of Cooking/ and /4001 Food Facts and Chef's Secrets/
>(1992):
>
>_Beef_
>... medium-well done meat is 170 degrees F; well-done is 185 degrees F.
>
>_Pork_
>... the internal temp for loin roasts must reach 170 degrees F (77 C); for
the thicker shoulder and leg, 185 degrees F (85 C).
>
>_Poultry_
>For all poultry, cook to an internal temp of 185 degrees F (85 C).
>
>If there's stuffing in the bird, it should reach a temp of at least 165
degrees F (74 C).
>
>_Eggs_
>Eggs cook quickly over any kind of heat -- beginning to thicken at 144
degrees F (62 C).
> No minimum temp. for safety (from salmonella) was given in either book.
You should cook them at a low temp to ensure that they're tender and
smooth. Some people eat them raw, of course. And some people eat steak
tartare.
>
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David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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