Take for example a custard. I recall reading somewhere, probably on the internet, that heating it to 70C will kill all the bacteria in it for sure. I also recall reading that holding it for 5 minutes at 60C will do the same thing.
I’m having trouble finding a proper reference for this. Is what I said actually true? It must have been studied in food science, so is there a proper source for this?
Best Answer
According to J.D. Schuman, info that I found in Douglas Baldwin's guide for sous-vide:
J. D. Schuman, B. W. Sheldon, J. M. Vandepopuliere, and H. R. Ball, Jr. Immersion heat treatments for inactivation of Salmonella enteritidis with intact eggs. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 83:438–444, 1997.
This is for whole eggs in the shell, so for your custard the time should vary according to the volume (as it will take longer for the temperature to reach the center).
Here is a time table for Salmonella reduction from The Modernist Cuisine (by Nathan Myrvold):