Sous Vide Chicken Pasteurization Temperatures

Abstract

Sous vide is a cooking technique which involves vacuum-packaging raw foods and placing the packages into a water bath where cooking time and temperatures can be carefully controlled. One health concern regarding sous vide is the issue of cooking at below recommended temperatures; this practice can lead to the survival of foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella when dealing with chicken. Because sous vide utilizes non-conventional cooking temperatures, the margin for error is smaller and more care must be taken ensure food safety.

Sous vide recipes vary greatly in terms of cooking time and temperatures, and as a result, there are a multitude of food safety concerns including the survival of pathogenic bacteria. This research project investigated one recipe which uses chicken breasts. The researcher logged the internal temperature of chicken breasts (n=30) as they were cooked according to a set recipe (66°C water bath for 23 minutes). The resulting values were then compared to time-temperature standards set by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to produce a safe product.

The experiment was conducted in conjunction with the executive chef at a Burnaby restaurant who is also a member of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) Sous Vide Working Group.

A one-tailed one-sample t-test was used to determine the significance of the findings; the null hypothesis (H₀ : measured temperature = target temperature) was rejected with a power of 1.00 at a p-value of 0.01. Chicken cooked under these particular sous vide conditions does not meet the guidelines for poultry set out by the CFIA.

Undercooked poultry can cause foodborne illness and it is recommended that a longer cooking time or a higher temperature sous vide process be used. Alternatively, further heat treatment may be used to achieve the appropriate temperature and dwell times.