Chicken Internal Temperature UK: 75C Safe Cooking Guide

In a UK food business, chicken should reach 75C at the core for at least 30 seconds before service. The Food Standards Agency also recognises equivalent time-temperature combinations such as 70C for 2 minutes, but 75C is the simplest working target for a busy kitchen because it gives a clear single probe reading. The target applies to whole birds, breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings, diced chicken, chicken burgers, goujons, kebabs, and any cooked dish containing raw poultry. Chicken must be steaming hot throughout, with no pink meat in the thickest part, but visual checks are only a backup. The verified food safety control is a calibrated probe reading from the coldest point.

For a whole chicken or turkey, probe the thickest part of the thigh, between the leg and the breast. This is the last area to reach temperature because it is the densest part of the bird and furthest from the heat source in most cooking methods. Avoid touching bone with the probe tip, as bone conducts heat faster than muscle and will give a falsely high reading. For chicken breasts, probe the geometric centre of the thickest part. For bone-in thighs or drumsticks, probe the thickest section of meat, keeping the probe parallel to the bone rather than touching it. For batch-cooked items such as chicken pieces on a tray, probe at least 2-3 pieces per batch, selecting the largest pieces and those in the centre of the tray (which receive less direct heat). Record the lowest reading as your temperature for that batch. For stuffed poultry, you must also probe the centre of the stuffing. Stuffing inside a bird acts as an insulator and reaches temperature much more slowly than the meat. Many food safety professionals recommend cooking stuffing separately for this reason.

If the thickest part reads below 75C, continue cooking immediately and re-probe before service. Do not plate it, hold it hot, or try to fix it later on the pass. If a batch has mixed readings, treat the lowest reading as the batch result and keep cooking the full batch unless you can safely separate verified cooked pieces from undercooked pieces without cross-contamination. If chicken has already been served, isolate the batch, stop service of the dish, inform the manager, and follow your incident procedure. Record the first temperature, corrective action, final temperature, staff member, and any equipment or portion-size issue that caused the failure.