Editorial standards
MeatLogic publishes internal cooking temperatures and curing-salt doses. Numbers like those can make someone ill if they are wrong, so this page sets out where they come from and how they are checked.
Who writes this
MeatLogic is written and maintained by The MeatLogic Team, which also builds and maintains the calculators. Every article carries a byline.
Where the numbers come from
Safe minimum internal temperatures come from USDA FSIS. Sous vide pasteurization times come from Douglas Baldwin’s published tables, which state their own basis: at least a million-to-one reduction in Listeria and a ten-million-to-one reduction in Salmonella. Barbecue pull temperatures and cooking rates come from commonly published pitmaster guidance and are presented as ranges, because that is honestly what they are.
Every one of those numbers lives in a single file that both the calculators and the meat temperature chart read from. If a calculator ever disagreed with the chart, that is a bug rather than a difference of opinion. Each value carries a source note in the code, and changing one without a source is treated as a regression.
How the calculators handle uncertainty
- Answers are ranges. Two briskets of identical weight can finish two hours apart. A single number would be a false precision.
- Rounding always goes the safe way. The sous vide calculator rounds thickness up to the next row of the published table, never down, because a shorter time than the food needs is the one error that makes people ill.
- Outside the published data, the answer is a refusal. A thickness or bath temperature no table covers returns a warning rather than an extrapolated guess.
- Unsafe combinations are labelled, not hidden. A 130°F bath pasteurizes nothing. It is still offered, because omitting it would not stop anyone using it, it would only mean they never saw the warning.
Product recommendations
- Specifications and prices are taken from research at the time of writing and are never invented. Where a figure could not be verified, it is left out.
- No star ratings are published. Retailer ratings move constantly and cannot be verified at the time of writing, so products carry an explicit editorial pick label instead.
- Links use product search URLs rather than guessed product IDs, so a link never points at the wrong item.
- Recommendations are not influenced by commission. Where a cheaper product is the better answer, that is what the article says.
Affiliate disclosure
MeatLogic participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, MeatLogic earns from qualifying purchases. Articles containing product links carry this disclosure at the top. A purchase made through one of those links may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See privacy and terms for the full statement.
Corrections
Articles show a published date and a last-updated date. Gear articles cite prices that move, so they are reviewed more often than the technique guides. If you find a number here that contradicts USDA guidance, treat USDA as correct and the page as wrong, and please tell us so it can be fixed.
What this page is not
MeatLogic provides general cooking information, not food-safety certification or professional advice. Cooking times are estimates and no calculator can know your pit, your weather, or your particular cut of meat. Always verify doneness with a calibrated probe thermometer.