ServSafe Manager guideFood-safety concepts
ServSafe Temperatures: Cooking, Holding and Reheating Explained
FDA Food Code 2022 temperatures with the food and the time attached. Poultry is not 145°F, and hot holding is not reheating.
Short answer
In the 2022 FDA Food Code, poultry cooks to 165°F instantaneously, comminuted meat such as ground beef cooks to 155°F for 17 seconds, and intact meat and eggs-to-order cook to 145°F for 15 seconds. Hot holding is 135°F. Reheating food you cooked and cooled, for hot holding, is 165°F for 15 seconds. A commercially packaged ready-to-eat food reheated for hot holding is 135°F. ServSafe says its current manager materials follow this Food Code, including the 2022 supplement. Your local code may still differ.
Read the row, not a single number
ServSafe’s update page says the program is based on the FDA Food Code and that the Manager 9th edition already includes the Supplement to the 2022 Food Code released in November 2024. The temperatures below are from the 2022 Food Code itself, checked October 3, 2026. They are model-code rules. A state or county may still be on an older adoption. An older ServSafe book may still print 15 seconds beside 155°F. The 2022 code’s minimum at 155°F for the foods in section 3-401.11(A)(2) is 17 seconds.
| Process | Food | Temperature and time | Code section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooking | Poultry; stuffed fish, meat, pasta, or poultry; stuffing that contains those foods; wild game animals listed in the section | 165°F or above for less than 1 second | 3-401.11(A)(3) |
| Cooking | Comminuted meat and the other foods listed with it, including ground beef and eggs that are not cooked to order | 155°F for 17 seconds, or a hotter temperature for less time on that chart | 3-401.11(A)(2) |
| Cooking | Intact meat, commercially raised game, and raw eggs broken for immediate service | 145°F for 15 seconds | 3-401.11(A)(1) |
| Cooking | Plant foods cooked for hot holding | 135°F | 3-401.13 |
| Hot holding | TCS food, except during prep, cooking, or cooling, and except the roast exception | 135°F or above | 3-501.16 |
| Cold holding | TCS food, with the same exceptions | 41°F or below | 3-501.16 |
| Reheating for hot holding | TCS food that was cooked and cooled in the operation | 165°F for 15 seconds, and the trip from 41°F to that temperature within 2 hours | 3-403.11(A) and (D) |
| Reheating for hot holding | Commercially packaged ready-to-eat TCS food from an inspected plant | 135°F, within 2 hours from 41°F | 3-403.11(C) and (D) |
Whole-meat roasts have a separate time-and-temperature chart in 3-401.11(B), from 130°F for 112 minutes up to hotter and shorter times. Do not use that roast chart for ground beef or for chicken.
Two original checks
Check A. A steak is intact beef, cooked for a guest who ordered it now. The 145°F for 15 seconds line can apply. A hamburger made from ground beef does not use that line. Ground beef is in the 155°F for 17 seconds group.
Check B. Yesterday’s house-made chili was cooled and is going back to the steam table. That is reheating for hot holding at 165°F for 15 seconds, not “hold it at 135°F and call it reheated.” A sealed commercial soup from an inspected plant, reheated for the same steam table, is the 135°F row.
Sort another item by the process, not by the first number you remember.
Cooling is a different clock. It is not in the table above beyond the holding temperatures, because both stages need their own arithmetic. Use the cooling guide for that log.
Microwave reheating for hot holding adds a stir, a cover, and 2 minutes standing after 165°F. That is section 3-403.11(B). It is not the rule for every pan on the stove.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.