I'm trying to cook beef short-ribs sous-vide at 140° for 72 hours. Imagine my shock this morning when I went into the kitchen and found the machine had turned itself off! It could not have been for long because the temp had only dropped to 80° so given the heat in my kitchen I'm guessing it was only off for an hour or two.
I've since set it back to 140° for at least another 36 hours of cooking…but any damage done from this drop? I'm more worried about bacteria and the like than any effect it will have on the meat.
Best Answer
Yes, according to the common food-handling procedures, having food in the 'danger zone' for some time is bad ... however, you've likely pasteurized your meat, as you only need to hold it at 140°F for 12 minutes to pasteurize pork against its normal pathogens.
Mind you, it's more than 12 minutes to get the middle up to 140°F, so it's not simply 'it needs to be cooked for 12 minutes'.
As you had pasteurized it for 24+ hrs before it was in the 'danger zone', you would've had a significant reduction in microbes, and the vacuum seal would've prevented it from being re-contaminated.
The only problem might be botulism, as you have to hold it at 185°F to kill the spores and destroy the toxin:
... so if there's garlic in the bag, and it's not in an acidic environment, you're at an increased risk.
You might be able to 'test' the contamination by holding it the warmer sections of your fridge for a week, and if the bag doesn't puff up, assume it's not at risk of botulism. Of course, if you hold it too cool the botulism won't give off enough gas to indicate that it's a problem, so I don't know if it's a 100% accurate test.
I'm not going to say that it is or isn't a problem, as everyone should make their own decision on risk. I wouldn't recommend serving it to others, especially not without informing them of the situation. You should be able to ensure safety by holding it at 185°F for 15-20 minutes, but that would likely defeat the purpose of your sous-vide cooking.