Causion food and safetysays:

[charlye]

I got this off Betty Crocker site:
Can you make a meat loaf in a crock pot?
Asked 09/17/2013 by mary372003
The food safety experts do NOT recommend making meat loaf in a slow cooker. They recommend all ground meats be cooked before adding to a slow cooker. Here are more helpful Slow Cooker Tips. One way to make meat loaf quickly is to make small meat loaves like in our 30-Minute Mini Meat Loaves recipe - give it a try!
Answered 09/18/2013 by ksorensen
charlye

 

[Barbara G.]

I wonder if you could slow cook it all day in the crockpot and then place in oven for short period of time to finish off the cooking? I am just curious since I add raw ribs to cook in the slow cooker and other meats like this. I don't cook them before using the crockpot. I wonder what the difference is with ground meat versus others?

 

[Geri K]

Hi Barbara, I do the same as you and add raw meat to the crockpot. I always set it on high for the first few hours so it cooks up fast and I believe that this reduces the chance that bacteria could form. Perhaps the food experts think that solid ground beef in a crockpot will not cook in the middle fast enough and sit for many hours still raw on the inside. Other than that, looser ground meats should be fine in the crockpot as they will cook faster. Do we dare doubt the experts? I think I am.

 

[charlye]

I wonder if you could slow cook it all day in the crockpot and then place in oven for short period of time to finish off the cooking? I am just curious since I add raw ribs to cook in the slow cooker and other meats like this. I don't cook them before using the crockpot. I wonder what the difference is with ground meat versus others?

I have no idea as what I posted was all that they had on the crockpot and ground meat raw. I think it is because raw meat is not suppose to be left out of frig. very long and I don't know if a crockpot ever reaches the meat to the internal temp. that they call "safe".

 

[Geri K]

I have no idea as what I posted was all that they had on the crockpot and ground meat raw. I think it is because raw meat is not suppose to be left out of frig. very long and I don't know if a crockpot ever reaches the meat to the internal temp. that they call "safe".

A large piece of meat will take a long time for he center to get hot enough to be safe I suppose but I don't see why smaller pieces of meat, including ground up meat, wouldn't be safe put on high temperature. A small meatloaf should be ok in the crockpot as long as you keep it on high for a while.

 

[christine]

I assumed that all foods cooked slow were much better for you. Maybe this is a way for Betty to get more sales.