How to read this page
This page collects every temperature and time that appears on Sous Vide Help, in one place, with the government document each figure comes from. Fahrenheit figures are as published by the US agencies named. Celsius figures are conversions, rounded to one decimal place.
Internal temperatures are measured in the thickest part of the food with a food thermometer, away from bone, fat and gristle, as the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) advises. For sous vide, the bath must be set at or above the internal temperature you need, because food in a water bath does not get hotter than the water.
The figures are the US consumer guidance. If you live elsewhere, your national food-safety authority may publish different figures; follow those.
Safe minimum internal temperatures
| Food | °F | °C | Rest | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef, pork, veal, lamb: steaks, chops, roasts | 145°F | 62.8°C | 3 minutes | FSIS chart |
| Ground beef, pork, veal, lamb | 160°F | 71.1°C | None listed | FSIS chart; FSIS ground beef guidance |
| All poultry, including ground poultry | 165°F | 73.9°C | None listed | FSIS chart |
| Egg dishes | 160°F | 71.1°C | None listed | FSIS chart; FSIS shell egg guidance |
| Fish with fins | 145°F | 62.8°C | None listed | FSIS chart |
| Shrimp, lobster, crab | Cook until the flesh is pearly or white and opaque | FoodSafety.gov | ||
| Clams, oysters, mussels | Cook until the shells open | FoodSafety.gov | ||
| Leftovers and casseroles | 165°F | 73.9°C | None listed | FSIS chart; FSIS leftovers guidance |
These are minimums for safety. Cooking to a higher temperature for a firmer texture is consistent with them; cooking to a lower one is not. Colour is not a substitute: FSIS guidance on the colour of meat and poultry says a thermometer is the reliable check. The temperature and doneness guide explains the difference between safety and doneness.
Temperature landmarks
| Temperature | °C | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 165°F | 73.9°C | Reheat leftovers to at least this temperature | FSIS leftovers guidance |
| 140°F and above | 60°C | Keep hot food at or above this temperature | FSIS danger zone guidance |
| 40°F to 140°F | 4.4°C to 60°C | The danger zone: bacteria grow most rapidly, doubling in as little as 20 minutes | FSIS danger zone guidance |
| 40°F or below | 4.4°C | Refrigerator temperature; check with an appliance thermometer | FSIS refrigeration guidance |
| 32°F | 0°C | What an accurate food thermometer reads in ice water | FSIS thermometer guidance |
| 0°F | -17.8°C | Freezer temperature at which food stays safe indefinitely, though quality declines | FSIS freezing guidance |
Time limits
| Situation | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Perishable food out of refrigeration | No more than 2 hours | FSIS danger zone guidance |
| The same, when the air is above 90°F (32.2°C) | No more than 1 hour | FSIS danger zone guidance |
| Cooked food into the refrigerator | Within 2 hours, in shallow containers or small portions | FSIS leftovers guidance |
| Rest after cooking whole cuts of beef, pork, veal, lamb | At least 3 minutes | FSIS chart |
| Thawing in cold water | Change the water every 30 minutes; cook straight after thawing | FSIS thawing guidance |
Refrigerator and freezer storage
| Food | Time | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked leftovers, including cooked meat and poultry | 3 to 4 days | FSIS leftovers guidance |
| Any food kept frozen at 0°F | Safe indefinitely; quality declines with time | FSIS freezing guidance |
The cited FSIS guidance gives no longer times for food that has been vacuum-sealed at home or cooked in its bag, so this handbook uses the same times for sealed food. It gives no storage times for raw food, because the FSIS and FDA documents it relies on were not checked for them; check current government storage guidance for those.
Rules written for food businesses
The FDA Food Code is a model code for restaurants, shops and other retail food businesses, not consumer guidance. Two of its rules are mentioned on this site for context only.
| Rule | Figure |
|---|---|
| Cooling cooked food, first stage | From 135°F (57.2°C) to 70°F (21.1°C) within 2 hours |
| Cooling cooked food, second stage | From 70°F (21.1°C) to 41°F (5°C) or below within a further 4 hours |
The Food Code also treats sous vide as reduced oxygen packaging, with controls aimed at Clostridium botulinum and Listeria monocytogenes, and includes time and temperature tables for some whole roasts. Those tables come with conditions for regulated kitchens and are not reproduced here.
Using these figures with a water bath
The tables above were written for cooking in general, so a sous vide cook has to translate them. Four habits cover most of that translation.
- Set the bath from Table 1, not below it. Food in a water bath approaches the water temperature and does not pass it. To reach 165°F in poultry, the bath must be at 165°F or higher; the same logic applies to every row.
- Confirm with a thermometer twice. Check the water before the food goes in, and the thickest part of the food at the end. Check the thermometer itself in ice water, where it should read 32°F (0°C), as the FSIS thermometer guidance describes.
- Count the time either side of the cook. The 2 hour limit in Table 3 covers raw food waiting to be bagged, food sitting in water that has not yet reached temperature, and cooked food waiting to be eaten or chilled.
- Treat bagged food as ordinary food in storage. A sealed bag is a low-oxygen space, not a preservative. Cooked food in its bag follows the leftovers row of Table 4, and reheating follows the 165°F row of Table 2.
A practical point about the danger zone row: a bath set anywhere between 40°F and 140°F holds the food inside the range where FSIS says bacteria grow most rapidly. That is the main reason this handbook does not give holding times for those settings.
What is not in this table
There are no low-temperature holding times on this page: no figures for how long poultry, beef, pork, fish or eggs can be held at a temperature below the safe minimums above. Many sous vide recipes publish such times, and they rest on a real principle, that time and temperature together determine how many bacteria are destroyed. But the consumer guidance from FSIS and FoodSafety.gov gives single minimum temperatures, not time-based alternatives for home cooks, and this handbook does not state a safety number that it cannot tie to a government source. The food safety guide explains why lower settings need particular care, and who should avoid them.
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