Are there food safety issues with sous-vide cooking?

Are there food safety issues with sous-vide cooking? - Crop man harvesting honey in countryside area

As I understand the technique, you put a food item in a plastic bag and dump it into warm water for some amount of time.

What happens to bacteria growth inside the bag?



Best Answer

If you do it properly, no there are no health issues.

A combination of two things are required to kill beasties: heat and time. The higher the heat you expose them to, the faster they die. Generally any temperature above 130 F is enough to kill most beasties, it just requires a significantly larger amount of time compared to a higher temperature.

I go into a lot of detail regarding Salmonella in this answer of mine:

Is it safe to eat a cooked steak that (briefly) touched the plate that was holding the raw meat?

I have several tables there to show exact timings, etc.

If you think I should copy/paste that here, then let me know in a comment




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Quick Answer about "Are there food safety issues with sous-vide cooking?"

A: Sous Vide Cooking Process With improper food handling, some of the most dangerous bacteria can grow, such as salmonella and botulism. Safe food handling and hygiene standards should always be maintained. Food cooked at low temperatures for extended periods of time can cause bacteria to multiply rapidly.

Can you get food poisoning from sous vide?

According to the USDA, any food held in the so-called temperature \u201cdanger zone\u201d (between 40\xb0F and 140\xb0F) for more than two hours presents a risk of food-borne illness from the growth of pathogenic bacteria \u2014 whether it's cooked sous vide or by conventional means.

What are the disadvantages of sous vide cooking?

The Disadvantages Of Sous Vide
  • Sous Vide Cooking Takes Time. Sous vide is all about cooking low and SLOW. ...
  • It is a Different Mind-Set. ...
  • It Pays to Plan Ahead. ...
  • It Doesn't 'Work' for Everything. ...
  • Colour. ...
  • Possible to Overcook.


Does sous vide kill botulism?

So, yes: botulism is possible with vacuum-sealed, sous-vide cooked food. But if you follow the danger zone rules--not cooking below 131F for more than a couple of hours--then it is extremely unlikely to be an issue with sous vide cooking.

Can botulism grow in sous vide?

Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic organism - it grows when there isn't oxygen - like in sous vide vacuums and canned goods. The risk is that sous vide cooks both without oxygen and at temperatures so close to the perfect repoduction rate for the organism.




More answers regarding are there food safety issues with sous-vide cooking?

Answer 2

There are a couple of things to consider when cooking sous vide in terms of safety:

  1. What is the time and temperature required to kill the nasty stuff present in any given piece of food. There will be a minimum temp and time for anything and it's highly dependent on the thickness of the meat.
  2. Some sous vide preparations don't get to those minimum times and temps. This is generally preparations of fish. In this case, you should use sushi grade fish and not serve to anyone who is immune compromised. Think of it as the same as eating it raw. If you follow the same safety guidelines, you'll be fine.
  3. Since you're cooking in a vacuum, botulism can be an issue. All food should be cooked within the recommended cooking time. Food should either be served immediately or flash cooled in an ice water bath and then kept below 38F in a fridge for 3-4 weeks. Home fridges are generally not good enough to keep the temp below 38F, so this shouldn't be done outside of commercial grade equipment.
  4. Cooking times should either be kept under 4 hours or be sufficient to achieve pasteurization.

Douglas Baldwin has produced an excellent, free resource, A Practical Guide to Sous Vide, that goes in to great length on all the safety concerns. It also lists general minimum time per temp per width for different cuts of meat and discusses when you can ignore those and what the additional risks and considerations are.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Anete Lusina, Anna Tarazevich, Laura James, Michael Burrows