Cooking temperatures are specific temperatures established that help destroy pathogens in food. Cooking food to its correct temperature helps kill pathogens and render the food safe to eat. There are some cooking techniques gaining in popularity, that may abide by different temperatures; however, standard cooking temperatures for hazardous foods are largely followed by most of the industry. Knowing them helps ensure you cook food to proper temperatures and you minimize risks for those eating. Different hazardous foods require different temperatures in order to kill specific pathogens associated with each food- we will explore these further in the next module.