> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Get stuffed — just use a thermometer before you unstuff
- URL: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2016/11/134977/
- Published: 2016-11-23T06:01:10.000Z
- Updated: 2016-11-23T06:01:10.000Z
- Author: Benjamin Chapman
- Tags: Cooking Temperatures, cross-contamination, Foodborne Pathogens, Nutrition & Public Health, Opinion & Contributed Articles, ben chapman, food thermometer, North Carolina State University, Salmonella, Thanksgiving, turkey stuffing, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-25 10:59

**Editor’s note:* [Ben Chapman](http://yfcs.cals.ncsu.edu/people/benjamin-chapman-ph-d/?ref=foodsafetynews.com), a food safety researcher and holiday meal enthusiast, originally published this column in the North Carolina State University News.*

[![To view the full Thanksgiving food safety video, click on the image.](http://foodsafetynewsfullservice.marlersites.com/files/2016/11/Ben-Chapman-thanksgiving-safety-video.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7fm6dO9jc&ref=foodsafetynews.com)

To view the full Thanksgiving food safety video, click on the image.

As a Canadian in the U.S., I’ve fully embraced the holiday season that runs from Thanksgiving through December. I enjoy spending a day planning and shopping for an event-style meal and then another day actually preparing and cooking it.

I throw on some tunes (this year it will probably be Drake, for my Canadian roots, and the Avett Brothers, as a nod to North Carolina) and, with the help of the rest of the family, I’ll roast a turkey, make mashed potatoes, green beans, squash, beets and a couple of other harvest vegetables.

And we’ll make a lot of stuffing.

Depending on your preference and food persuasion, there are lots of different stuffing or dressing options.

A common question that pops up is whether it’s better to cook stuffing in the bird to preserve moisture (and get flavored by the turkey juices) or prepare it as a separate dish. The concern is that if someone puts the stuffing in the turkey cavity, it may become contaminated by the turkey juices and [Salmonella](https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/?ref=foodsafetynews.com) and [Campylobacter](https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/campylobacter/?ref=foodsafetynews.com) will migrate through the stuffing.

It’s easier to recommend not messing with the cross-contamination instead of managing the risk. But what does the science say?

![man holding food thermometer](http://foodsafetynewsfullservice.marlersites.com/files/2016/11/man-holding-food-thermometer.jpg)

I’m a food safety nerd and take a science-based approached to my meals. Armed with a digital, tip-sensitive thermometer, I’m happy to jam stuffing up inside of my poultry and use the probe to check the temperature. And I use 165 degrees F as a target for my bread-based stuffing.

There’s some history to that number. In 1958, Raymond Rogers and Millard Gunderson of the Campbell Soup Co. [published some work](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1958.tb17543.x/abstract?ref=foodsafetynews.com) evaluating the safety of roasting frozen, stuffed turkeys (a new product at the time).

Using a known amount of Salmonella pullorum, nine turkeys and some then-fancy ceramic thermocouples, they found that they could get an 8-log (or 99.999999 percent) reduction when the deepest part of the stuffing hit 160 degrees F. They recommended 165 degrees to be conservative — and because some thermometers aren’t always very accurate.

From the manuscript, comments that still apply today: “The initial temperature and the size of the turkey influence considerably the time required to reach a lethal temperature in the stuffing. The lower the initial temperature of the turkey, the longer the roasting period required. Present recommended roasting procedures designating hours cooking time or which stipulate a thigh or breast temperature to be attained alone does not appear to be adequate bacteriologically.”

So, inside the bird, outside the bird, meat or no meat: Use a thermometer.

**Note:** Chapman has also made an entire [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7fm6dO9jc&ref=foodsafetynews.com) devoted to minimizing risk from foodborne illness when cooking turkey. More food safety tips from him are available [here](https://news.ncsu.edu/2011/11/wms-do-not-barf/?ref=foodsafetynews.com).

**(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click** [**here**](http://www.foodsafetynews.com/subscribe/#.VcL0VsZNPVs)**.)**