Food Safety: Handling, Storage, and Cooking Temperature

USDA's own published guidance states all poultry — including duck and goose — is "safely cooked when the food thermometer reaches a safe minimum internal temperature of 165°F" measured in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast, for a whole bird; ground or mechanically processed waterfowl (sausage, for example) should also reach 165°F throughout.

This is a meaningfully different number from this site's own fish-recipe food-safety standard (145°F, from FoodSafety.gov) — duck and goose are poultry, not fish, for food-safety purposes, and this guide's own waterfowl recipes cite 165°F specifically rather than reusing the fish standard.

Appearance alone (pink color, texture) does not reliably indicate a safe internal temperature has been reached, especially for duck breast, which is sometimes served less-than-well-done in restaurant preparation — a food thermometer, not visual judgment, is the only reliable check. See this guide's own recipes for how this is handled in specific preparations.

Wash hands, cutting boards, and utensils that contacted raw waterfowl before they touch other food, the same as with any raw poultry.

This guide does not claim any cooking method removes lead fragments, disease agents, or environmental contaminants (PFAS, mercury, or similar) from meat — see this section's own avian-disease-awareness topic, and consult current official guidance (VDH, CDC, DWR) for any consumption-advisory question this guide has not independently researched.