Process
Cold smoking
Smoke is applied at a temperature too low to cook the product.
Published parameters
| Parameter | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wood smoke | permitted as an added substance | 9 CFR 424.22(a)(1) |
| Artificial smoke flavouring | sufficient for purpose | 9 CFR 424.21(c), flavouring agents |
What the step is for
Flavour, surface drying and some antimicrobial effect at the surface. Not a lethality treatment.
Cold smoking holds a product in exactly the temperature range that pathogens like, for hours at a time, which is why it is a step that has to be accounted for in the hazard analysis rather than treated as a finish.
FSIS notes that smoke sometimes inhibits fermentation at the product surface, and that how far this matters depends on the diameter of the product. A smoked sausage may acidify unevenly.
There is no published time and temperature parameter for cold smoking as a lethality step, because it is not one.
Hazards this step bears on
Instruments this step is measured with
Every parameter above is stated in a unit. These are the instruments those units are read with, and that is the only claim being made for them: they let you find out what your product is. None of them makes this step safe, none of them is required by any of the sources cited above, and this site does not tell anyone that a procedure works. Consumables, cures and cultures are deliberately not linked from a method page; they are on supplies.
Affiliate links
The listings below are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate this site earns from qualifying purchases: if you buy through one of these links Amazon pays a commission and you pay the same price you would have paid otherwise. Links and prices were resolved on 2026-09-04 by a build script and are not re-fetched when you load the page. Full terms on disclosures.
Cold smoke generator
Cold smoking is not a lethality treatment and has no published time and temperature standard, because it holds the product in the range pathogens grow in. A generator that makes smoke without heat is what keeps a cold smoke cold; it does not make the product safe, and nothing on this site says it does.
Listing
A-MAZE-N AMNTS12 Oval Pellet Tube Smoker, Hot or Cold Smoking, 12 Inch, Stainless
- Lowest new, checked 2026-09-04
- $13.49
- Brand
- A-MAZE-N
- ASIN
- B00CS6YFIC
Affiliate link, tag carbs.com-20. Prices read from the Amazon Creators API on 2026-09-04 and not re-fetched since. Amazon prices move within a day; treat these as the figure on that date, not as a quote.
Probe thermometer, calibrated
Every entry in the Trichinella heating table and every cooking endpoint is an internal temperature in all parts of the product. FSIS requires monitoring by a calibrated device.
Parameter: FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 1, 13 time and temperature combinations
Listing
RIWUSI Meat Thermometer Digital, Instant Read Thermometer with Dual Probe
- Lowest new, checked 2026-09-04
- $9.99
- Lowest used, checked 2026-09-04
- $7.59
- Brand
- RIWUSI
- ASIN
- B0F5WWFPBG
Affiliate link, tag carbs.com-20. Prices read from the Amazon Creators API on 2026-09-04 and not re-fetched since. Amazon prices move within a day; treat these as the figure on that date, not as a quote.
Hygrometer and thermometer, logging
FSIS treats relative humidity as a critical operating parameter for cooking, and a drying room is a humidity-controlled space. A logged record is what turns a chamber into a process.
Parameter: FSIS-GD-2021-0012, relative humidity as a critical operating parameter
Listing
- Lowest new, checked 2026-09-04
- $64.95
- Brand
- tempi.fi
- ASIN
- B07TK22DQQ
Affiliate link, tag carbs.com-20. Prices read from the Amazon Creators API on 2026-09-04 and not re-fetched since. Amazon prices move within a day; treat these as the figure on that date, not as a quote.
Regulatory citations are to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9, as in force on 1 January 2026. FSIS guideline citations give the guideline identifier; the documents are listed with their URLs on methodology.