Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

As food safety has become a concern for many people, it has become increasingly apparent that one key to safe food is to assure that the food is always at the proper temperature. We once thought that food in the refrigerator or freezer was cold enough to stay safe and that cooking food assured adequate heating. Current recommendations, however, tell us that if we want to keep food safe we need to have accurate thermometers to measure temperatures and we must handle and use them properly.

Refrigerator/Freezer thermometers are important to guarantee that food is being held at the proper temperature. Refrigerators should maintain a temperature no higher than 40xF. Food will hold it's top quality for the longest period of time in a freezer set at 0xF or lower.

Oven thermometers are a good way to make certain that ovens are working at the desired temperature. Although oven manufacturers set dials to indicate the temperature of the oven, a variety of factors such as shipping, age, use, dust, etc. can cause these to lose accuracy. Placing a thermometer in the oven and checking the heating temperature not only helps assure safe heating but also avoids waste due to over or undercooking.

Thermometers to measure product doneness come in a variety of sizes, shapes, materials and costs. Some are designed to be placed in the product when cooking starts so that temperatures can be watched throughout the cooking process. Others are made to be used for measuring temperature near the end of a heating period and are not made to withstand long exposure to heat.

Most thermometers are made to work in specific heat ranges and it is important to use a thermometer that works in the range of the product you are heating. For example, candy and deep fat fryers often reach temperatures greater than 300xF so a meat thermometer that reads only to 200xF would not be useful with these products.

T-Sticks are a newer type of temperature measuring device designed specifically for meat. These are disposable, single-use, cardboard thermometers which indicate 160xF, the minimum recommended temperature for red meat. Because they are relatively small, many consumers find these are easier to use than larger thermometers when cooking thin meats like hamburger patties.