The observational study was designed with participants randomly assigned to either a group that was shown an educational video on food thermometer use or a group that was not shown the video. Researchers observed both groups as they prepared turkey patties in a test kitchen. The study data were collected in six test kitchen facilities in two locations in North Carolina—one urban and one rural.

Even though participants in both groups were likely to own a food thermometer (62 percent overall), the test kitchen results told a completely different story about their thermometer use. Seventy-five percent of those who saw the food safety video checked that their turkey patties were done by using a food thermometer, compared to only 34% in the group that did not see the video.

Participants in the video group were also twice as likely to insert the food thermometer correctly in the turkey patty compared to the non-video group (52 percent and 23 percent, respectively). Most participants who used a food thermometer remembered to check the internal temperature of both patties (82 percent of the video group and 73 percent of the non-video group). Even when those in the non-video group used a food thermometer, nearly half (46 percent) did not cook the turkey patties to the safe internal temperature of 165°F. FSIS recommends cooking poultry products to a safe internal temperature of 165°F, the temperature at which it is hot enough to kill harmful germs that cause food poisoning. For information on how to properly handle meat and poultry products go to our food safety webpage.

To see more FSIS research and scientific publications, visit our webpages on consumer research and scientific literature.