"Time for 5.0 log reduction " maybe I'm thick!!
What does that mean? In English please..
Log reduction... is a logarithmic function .... like x² .. x³ etc.....
To put it into numbers......
The scientists measure and count bacteria in a given amount of meat... I have no idea how they do that... anyway, lets say they measure 500 bacteria in 1,000,000 (million) grams of meat...
A 1 log reduction would be 50 bacteria in that same hunk of meat... multiply bacteria X 0.1...
a 2 log....... 5 bacteria multiply bacteria X 0.01
3 log...........0.5 bacteria multiply bacteria X 0.001
4 log...........0.05 bacteria
5 log...........0.005 bacteria
6 log ..........0.0005 bacteria...
7 log...........0.00005 bacteria... multiply bacteria X 0.0000001
In essence, the longer you hold meats, as an example, at a temperature that will kill bacteria, the more bacteria will be killed... the higher the temperature, the faster the bacteria will be killed... some bacteria require higher temps to start the killing process.... That's why beef can be safe at 145 ish and poultry can be safe at 165... different bacteria ... or something like that...
They also calculate how many bacteria a healthy person can consume and hot become affected... The body can handle a certain amount... Persons with compromised immune systems can't handle the amount of bacteria a healthy person can.... those groups include infants, the elderly, the sick..... etc....
So, the FDA, from what I understand, sets levels of bacteria reduction so food is safe for ALL groups... they don't know who is eating at any food service business....