for what it's worth....
Why is temperature important when drying meat and poultry jerky?
There have been illnesses from Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 from homemade jerky that raise questions about the safety of traditional drying methods for making beef and venison jerky.
To make jerky safely at home, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline recommends that consumers cook all meat to 160 °F and all poultry to 165 °F before they begin the dehydrating process. This cooking step ensures that any bacteria present will be destroyed. Most dehydrator instructions do not include this step, and a dehydrator may not reach high enough temperatures to heat meat and poultry to these safe temperatures.
After heating meat to 160 °F and poultry to 165 °F, maintain a constant dehydrator temperature of 130 to 140 °F during the drying process. This is important because the process must be fast enough to dry food before it becomes unsafe; and it must remove enough water so that microorganisms are unable to multiply.
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Why is it a food safety concern to dry meat without cooking it first?
The danger in dehydrating meat and poultry without cooking it to a safe temperature first is that the dehydrator will not heat meat to 160 °F or poultry to 165 °F — temperatures at which bacteria are destroyed — before the jerky dries. Bacteria that are not destroyed by cooking can survive dehydrating and cause foodborne illness.
In a dehydrator or low-temperature oven, most of the heat is absorbed by evaporating moisture. Thus, the temperature of the meat does not begin to rise until most of the moisture has evaporated. Therefore, when the dried meat temperature finally begins to rise, the bacteria have become more heat resistant and are more likely to survive. If these surviving bacteria are pathogenic (types that cause foodborne diseases), anyone who consumes the jerky can get a foodborne illness.
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Why is temperature important when drying meat and poultry jerky?
There have been illnesses from Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 from homemade jerky that raise questions about the safety of traditional drying methods for making beef and venison jerky.
To make jerky safely at home, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline recommends that consumers cook all meat to 160 °F and all poultry to 165 °F before they begin the dehydrating process. This cooking step ensures that any bacteria present will be destroyed. Most dehydrator instructions do not include this step, and a dehydrator may not reach high enough temperatures to heat meat and poultry to these safe temperatures.
After heating meat to 160 °F and poultry to 165 °F, maintain a constant dehydrator temperature of 130 to 140 °F during the drying process. This is important because the process must be fast enough to dry food before it becomes unsafe; and it must remove enough water so that microorganisms are unable to multiply.
[Top of Page]
Why is it a food safety concern to dry meat without cooking it first?
The danger in dehydrating meat and poultry without cooking it to a safe temperature first is that the dehydrator will not heat meat to 160 °F or poultry to 165 °F — temperatures at which bacteria are destroyed — before the jerky dries. Bacteria that are not destroyed by cooking can survive dehydrating and cause foodborne illness.
In a dehydrator or low-temperature oven, most of the heat is absorbed by evaporating moisture. Thus, the temperature of the meat does not begin to rise until most of the moisture has evaporated. Therefore, when the dried meat temperature finally begins to rise, the bacteria have become more heat resistant and are more likely to survive. If these surviving bacteria are pathogenic (types that cause foodborne diseases), anyone who consumes the jerky can get a foodborne illness.
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