Is my jerky safe to eat?

[joannelj]

I'm making beef jerky for the first time, using a london broil. According to jerkyholics page, my dehydrator needs to be 160, so I tested it on some dried fruit, which did reach 160. So I threw all my meat in it and let it do it's thing. I came back 1.5 hours later, and the meat was no where close to 160. It was in the 120-130 range. So I preheated the oven to 300, moved it to the oven and let it cook for 10 minutes (temp was around 205-210 when it was done) and then I turned the oven down to 185, propped the door open with a wooden spoon, and finished dehydrating it in there.
I did use curing salts.
Is my jerky safe to eat?

 

[dr k]

Yes, You have all the time in the world in the danger zone if cured and drying. I do chunks of eye of round for dried beef that is cured at 145, then to 155 for 24 hours. People that have cured belly and pork loins for bacons can go in and out of cold smoke and fridge for many days to get the color and flavor they want. Smoke inhibits spoilage pathogens and cure inhibits foodbourne pathogens that cause foodbourne illnesses. When drying without smoke you're reducing the exterior water activity first, then the center for inhibiting any microbial life supporting environment. See pinned threads in the Food Safety forum.

 

[KBFlyer]

First if you think jerky is done in 1.5 hours you really need to research more. It was good you used curing salts as that protects your meat. Not everyone will use cures on whole muscle meats but I do recommend it. When curing meat to make jerky it should be done low and slow to get to the texture you want. Not fast and done.

 

[indaswamp]

You have all the time in the world in the danger zone if cured and drying.

Technically....this is not true. If cure #1 is used , you have about 30 days in the danger zone to lower the water activity low enough so that it will not support bacterial growth. If cure #2 is used, you have a significantly longer period of time, but this depends on the amount used. The upper limit for cure #2 is about 5-6X higher than what it is for cure #1.

Happy Drying...

 

[joannelj]

First if you think jerky is done in 1.5 hours you really need to research more. It was good you used curing salts as that protects your meat. Not everyone will use cures on whole muscle meats but I do recommend it. When curing meat to make jerky it should be done low and slow to get to the texture you want. Not fast and done.

Sorry I wasn't clear - I know it takes much longer than 1.5 hours to be done. I was just checking the temperature at that time, to be sure my dehydrator was hot enough. I wanted to be sure before it hung out in the danger zone for more than 2 hours.

 

[joannelj]

Yes, You have all the time in the world in the danger zone if cured and drying. I do chunks of eye of round for dried beef that is cured at 145, then to 155 for 24 hours. People that have cured belly and pork loins for bacons can go in and out of cold smoke and fridge for many days to get the color and flavor they want. Smoke inhibits spoilage pathogens and cure inhibits foodbourne pathogens that cause foodbourne illnesses. When drying without smoke you're reducing the exterior water activity first, then the center for inhibiting any microbial life supporting environment. See pinned threads in the Food Safety forum.

Thank you!!