How to be sure meat, poultry, and fish is thoroughly cooked?!

How to be sure meat, poultry, and fish is thoroughly cooked?

I always cook meat thoroughly but lately for some reason my husband always believes that its undercooked and wont eat it, no matter how long i cook it.

I know that i am cooking it thoroughly?? When I cook ground beef, I get all of the pink out of it and get it evenly dark brown all around. When I make chicken I make sure the inside is white and you can peel it apart with your fingers. When I cook fish, I cook it until its nice and flaky. Isnt this right?? I'm confused.

1 day ago
Thanks for the helpful answers. My husband is a sweet wonderful guy, and he's not a germaphobic person in the least, so I dont know why he's worried so much about the meat but i'm sure he has a good reason. :-)

i think that the way that you handle the meat, from purchase to serving it is really important. cooking a piece of meat to the correct temperature that might have been mishandled prior to cooking might not be enough to make it safe to eat. if it's frozen, make sure it's thawed under cold running water, in the refrigerator(the best way), or in the microwave(the worst way, but still safe). if it's fresh check for appearance and smell. if it is overly slimy, or smells funny take it back, or throw it out. it's important to note though, that meat can still look and smell fine, but be contaminated. these are just strong warning signs. so if it looks good and smells good, then cooking it to the correct temperature will do the trick. make sure though to wash hands, utensils and cutting boards that have touched the raw meat before using them again to touch the cooked meat. a thermometer that's calibrated(reads 32 degrees in a cup of half ice/half water) will help. but, make sure for small pieces of meat like a fish filet, burger, or chicken breast for example, that you shoot for about 5 degrees below the desired temperature. the reason is that everything continues to cook even after you remove it from the heat source. small pieces like those will only go up around 5 degrees before cooling. larger roasts and whole birds will continue to go up around 10 to 15 degrees after pulling them away from the heat. lastly, let the meats rest for a couple of minutes before cutting into them. if you cut into something right out of the oven or out of the pan, a lot of the juices that keep it tender will run right out.