In article >, > wrote:

>The Ranger > wrote:

>> I use crockpots quite a bit but, while I'm not afraid to leave it
>> going for extended absences, I don't leave food in it for five
>> hours before it starts cooking either. I'd be too worried about
>> whether it was safe to eat when I got home, having experienced
>> food poisoning a couple times in my life...

>Not sure why you think that would be a problem. Anything that
>starts to grow is going to be killed by the heat once it starts
>cooking. Food poisoning is generally from leaving already
>cooked foods out too long, or not cooking raw food sufficiently.
>After the first couple of hours of cooking all the pathogens
>should be good and dead. As long as you don't delay the start
>long enough for putifaction to set in . . .

So, crockpot users, tell me this: with a crockpot, how do you
know the temperature is high enough to kill, rather than
cultivate, bacteria? Is there a thermometer, or a reliable
thermostat? What temperature does a crockpot operate at?

Steve