Process
Cooking and stabilisation
A heat step to a validated endpoint, followed by a controlled cooling.
Published parameters
| Parameter | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Stabilisation performance standard | no multiplication of C. botulinum, no more than 1 log multiplication of C. perfringens | 9 CFR 318.17(a)(2), 9 CFR 318.23(c)(1), 9 CFR 381.150 |
| Cooling, water activity route | a water activity of 0.93 or less | FSIS-GD-2021-0013 |
| Cooling, pH route | a pH of 4.6 or less | FSIS-GD-2021-0013 |
| Nitrite in stabilisation | optional if the product has a water activity of 0.92 or less | FSIS-GD-2021-0013 |
What the step is for
The only step in this list that is a lethality treatment by itself, and the cooling that keeps it that way.
Stabilisation is the half of the process that gets forgotten. A product can be brought to a lethality endpoint and then ruined on the way down, because C. perfringens spores survive the heat step and multiply through the cooling range.
The federal standard is expressed as an outcome: no multiplication of C. botulinum, and no more than one log of C. perfringens. How an establishment gets there is its own business, and Appendix B exists to give options.
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
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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
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Immersion circulator
The Trichinella heating table and the cooking guideline are both stated as an internal temperature held for a time in all parts of the product. Holding a low temperature for a long time by hand is the part people get wrong; a circulator is the instrument that makes the low end of those tables usable.
Parameter: FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 1, time and temperature combinations
Listing
- Lowest new, checked 2026-09-04
- $43.99
- Brand
- Wancle
- ASIN
- B094921FYY
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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.