injecting meat and the ground meat safety rule

[teleskier]

I was reading on another forum regarding injecting a pork butt. On that site, they said if you inject your meat, you need to follow the ground meat safety rule which says you need to reach an IT of atleast 135 in under 4 hours.

Since I don't normally see what temp I am at because I put a butt on late at night and go to bed, but I don't think we Smokin it users are reaching that temp that fast.

Any thoughts on this rule if you inject meat?

 

[DivotMaker]

Wouldn't give it a moment's thought, Mike.  Butts and briskets tend to always hit that temp in 4 hours.  Funny sometimes, how fast that initial temp climb is - it'll freak out a new smoker!  Oh my gosh!  My 9 pound butt is going to be done in 4 hours, at this rate!!  Arghh!!!    We all know it's just the primer to the stall, where the real cooking occurs!

 

[teleskier]

Well I thought the same thing. Funny how this other site was making such a huge deal about it.

 

[mizzoufan]

Some people are VERY concerned and always conscious of the food safety rules, some are not so much.  Having grown up camping and shooting squirrels for food to cook over an open fire while picking up some wild onions/mushrooms or whatever else I could find at that particular time, I don't worry as much about it as long as I'm not pulling meat close to the safety line.

That being said, if I'm doing something that I'm pulling at temp just barely over the safety line I'll be more careful about it because it doesn't have all that high temp time like a butt or brisket that's going to 190+ will have.

 

[SuperDave]

I've heard the same argument for using temp probes.  Theory being that one is breaking the surface and introducing bacteria inside the meat.  I've had a couple of problematic smokes in my day and didn't make the 4 hour time table.  I'm still walking and talking. 

 

[teleskier]

sounds like we are all pretty much on the same page.