Pressure canners kill enough bacteria to preserve foods for longer periods of time in the home but does this mean pressure cookers kill bacteria too? Do they sterilize foods? This presentation presents the evidence in a succinct manner with sources available. For more on this topic see the source page for this presentation at http://www.corriecooks.com/does-pressure-cooking-kill-bacteria/.

1. DOES PRESSURE
COOKING KILL
BACTERIA?
By Corrigan Duffy

2. High pressure is one of the best ways to kill
bacteria.
High Pressure Environments

3. Advantages of Pressure
Cooking
Pressure Cooking can be
applied to a wide variety
of foods which may be
damaged in the process
of sterilization by other
methods. This is
particularly notable when
it comes to foods which
are high in acid content
like strawberries.

4. Advantages of Pressure
Cooking
Pressure cooking
preserves all of the
crucial elements of food
which ensure that it still
tastes great following the
treatment. Other
techniques like exposure
to heat or controlled
radiation can negatively
impact the taste of the
food once it has been
sterilized.

5. Advantages of Pressure
Cooking
Pressure cooking allows
for the selective
destruction of only the
damaging bacteria which
you are looking to
destroy. This means that,
for example, E.coli can
be targeted and
eradicated under
pressure whilst smaller
micro-organisms which
may be beneficial to
nutrition are able to
survive intact.

6. Home pressure cookers do not generate
enough pressure to completely sterilize
food.
Pressure Cooking Limitations

7. How Much Pressure Is Needed
The Center for Disease
Control and Prevention’s
(CDC) guideline for
disinfection and
sterilization in healthcare
facilities suggests that
sterilization is only
achieved fully when
a pressure cooker that
reaches 15 psi is able to
run at this high pressure
for a 30 minute period.
http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/disinfection
_sterilization/13_0sterilization.html

8. Is 11 PSI Good Enough?
Using your pressure
cooker on high (~11psi)
to cook and prepare food
is going to kill the
overwhelming majority of
bacteria which are
responsible for food
poisoning including
Salmonella, E.coli, and a
whole lot more.

9. Credits: Photos used in this presentation fall under CC0 (free to use) licensing.
Learn more and see presentation source material at:
http://www.corriecooks.com/bacteria/