Pulled Pork Safe?

Wahooegger

I apologize for bringing this topic up again, I know there are many posts in the archives, and I've looked at many of them, but I've always been a bit confused about exactly how to apply the 40-140 in 4 hours rule.

I've got two 8 lb bone-in butts in the egg. From the time I put them on, it took approximately 5.5 hours for the internal temp. of the butts to reach 140. The Egg was between 250 and 300 that entire time. Once they hit 140, I let the temp drop a bit. The butts went all the way up to 155 internal, have dropped to 149, and seem to be holding there. I believe that's too low for the plateau, so I have two questions:

1. is there any concern that the 5.5 hours to reach 140 internal created a safety issue; and
2. is there any concern that the butts sitting around 150 could create a safety issue.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

egret

The 40-140 rule is referring to "surface" temp., not internal temp. The surface temp. of your meat was well above this......not to worry.

gdenby

The 40 - 140 rule is for ambient temperature. Even if the surface of the butt is contaminated, the contaminants will be dead in minutes with a dome of 250. Most internal contaminants (not likely with a bone-in butt) will be destroyed within minutes of reaching 140. There are a few things that leave spores that germinate between 160 - 180 (if I recall correctly), but they will be killed by the time the butt is cooked. As far as I know, most of the toxins that any bad stuff produces will be destroyed by the 195 - 200 degree final temp.

The exception is one strain of staph. If someone coughed into a pile of ground meat, and let that sit for 4 hours, even cooking to 250 wouldn't be sufficient to destroy the staph toxins.

stike

pretty much spot on, except the toxins AREN'T destroyed.

meaning, if something is left in the danger zone too long, heating it up doesn't magically fix it. the bacteria are toast, but their toxin remains

Wahooegger

Thanks everyone, I thought it was probably ok but needed that bit of reassurance. Have a good weekend.