Research studies have been done to correlate the temperature of a compost pile containing livestock or poultry carcasses and the amount of pathogen kill achieved at those temperatures. How do you take the temperature of a compost pile? And how does that temperature correlate to pathogen reduction?
Maintaining a temperature of 131 deg F for at least 4 hours assures us that we have reached an appropriate temperature for pathogen reduction. However, to destroy most pathogen and viruses, compost pile should sustain temperature 131 °F or greater for at least 3 consecutive days. The heat is the result of microbial metabolic activity within the compost pile as they are consuming the carcass.
Check out the other video FAQs on carcass management
Author: Joshua Payne, Oklahoma State University
Reviewers: Shafiqur Rahman, North Dakota State University and Jean Bonhotal, Cornell University