To eat or not to eat...

Good morning, all! I'm new to the forum and have a bit of an emergency. I'm sure there is a related thread but I can't seem to find a search string that works.

I put a 6.5 lb butt on my Traeger Junior at 1 AM. My wife woke up at 4 AM and hearkened to check the Temps and she said the grill was showing 175 and the meat about 110. I woke at 7 AM and the meat was showing 130 but the grill was showing 64. The outside temp was about 60. I took the butt out and discovered that the firebox was completely full of pellets. I put the butt in the oven, cleaned out the firebox, and restarted the grill. I let the grill run for a bit while reading lots of "eat it/don't eat it" advice and since I couldn't find anything that was very definitive I put the butt back on the grill.

My wife seems to think we will be fine but I'm still not so sure. Does anyone have any real life experience with this? Did you toss it? Did you eat it? What happened? This is the first time I'về had this happen on an overnight smoke.

Thanks!

I think you'll be fine. The danger zone is 40F-140F and it appears that the IT of the butt was climbing at a steady rate until flame-out. The exterior surface of the butt is the most likely place that there would be pathogens and it would have had to be at least 140F if the IT was 130F. The IT climbed approx. 20 degrees in three hours. At 175F grill temp., I don't think the grill was off for long.

Good day- I do not think you will have any problems... As long as you FINISH cooking the meat to the recommended temps for safe consumption. I understand you are in the "danger zone" now, and I would definitely not eat it as is. As you finish cooking, you will kill off any pathogens that may have jumped in during this period.

I do not know what you cook your meat too... but my final temp on pork butt is at least 195 - nothing to fear if you get the temp up above 180...

Regards,

Jason

I agree with sharky.