Meat Safety Standards Around the World

Every food-safety authority chases the same goal: heat meat enough to kill harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter. They largely agree on poultry and ground meat, but they diverge on two things that matter at the dinner table — whether pork can be served pink, and whether “safe” is a single fixed temperature or a time-and-temperature combination. This guide compares the five standards the tool offers, first at a glance and then in depth.

1. At a glance

This table shows each authority's safe minimum internal temperature for the most common cuts. Where a standard judges doneness by eye rather than by a number, the cell reads “visual.”

2. The shared science

Cooking safety is really about reducing bacteria to a safe level. The same reduction can be reached by a high temperature held briefly or a lower temperature held longer — the time–temperature idea. The UK FSA, for example, treats 70 °C for 2 minutes as equal to 65 °C for 10 minutes or 75 °C for 30 seconds.

Where the bacteria sit decides how a cut must be cooked. A whole, intact cut of beef or lamb carries bacteria only on its surface, so searing the outside makes a rare interior safe. Minced or rolled meat folds that surface into the middle, so it has to be cooked through. Poultry and pork can carry bacteria throughout, so every authority treats them more strictly.

3. United States — USDA

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service publishes one safe minimum temperature per type of meat: 145 °F / 63 °C for whole beef, pork, and lamb (plus a 3-minute rest), 160 °F / 71 °C for ground meat, and 165 °F / 74 °C for poultry.

The United States is the one standard that allows whole-cut pork to be served slightly pink, at the same 145 °F / 63 °C as beef and lamb. Fish is cooked to 145 °F / 63 °C. The model is a single fixed temperature for each food.

4. United Kingdom & Europe

The UK Food Standards Agency frames safety as 70 °C for 2 minutes, or any equivalent time-and-temperature combination. The same approach is echoed by Germany's BfR and, at 75 °C, by Ireland's FSAI.

Whole cuts of beef and lamb may be served rare if the surface has been sealed, because the inside stays sterile. Pork is grouped with poultry — cook it right through, with no pink. Fish is judged visually: it is done when the flesh is opaque and flakes easily. Brazil and Argentina follow the same cook-through, 70 °C model.

5. Canada

Health Canada's chart is fixed like the USDA's, but with two twists. Pork must reach 71 °C / 160 °F — no pink — and a whole bird has its own higher target of 82 °C / 180 °F, while poultry pieces stay at 74 °C / 165 °F.

Whole beef and lamb are safe at 63 °C / 145 °F (medium-rare), ground meat at 71 °C / 160 °F, and fish at 70 °C / 158 °F. Canada does not specify a rest time.

6. Australia

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) recommends cooking to 75 °C in the centre for higher-risk foods — all poultry, and any meat that has been minced or rolled — with 70 °C as the general guide for other cuts.

Guidance is given in Celsius only, and it does not single out rare whole cuts or pink pork the way the US and European standards do. Fish is judged visually.

7. New Zealand

New Zealand Food Safety (MPI) uses a time–temperature ladder: 75 °C for 30 seconds equals 70 °C for 3 minutes equals 65 °C for 15 minutes.

As in Europe, whole cuts of beef, lamb, or venison need only their surface seared to be safe, while pork is cooked right through. Fish is judged visually.

8. The differences that matter

Set side by side, the five standards diverge in five specific ways:

• Pork is the one safety-critical split. Pink or medium pork is considered safe only under the USDA; every other authority says cook it through.
• Fixed versus time–temperature. The USDA, Canada, and Australia give a single number; the UK/Europe and New Zealand give an equivalence, so a lower temperature held longer also works.
• Fish. It is a number in the US (145 °F / 63 °C) and Canada (70 °C / 158 °F), but judged by eye — opaque and flaking — under the UK/Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Whole poultry. Canada alone singles out a whole bird, at 82 °C / 180 °F.
• Rest. The USDA's 3-minute rest is part of its safety rule for whole cuts; the others do not specify one.

9. Which one applies to you

The tool defaults to the standard for your region and lets you switch at any time. If you are unsure which to follow, use the strictest figure — cooking hotter is never unsafe. The differences here are about what each authority permits, not about what is dangerous.