Is the CO-Z 10-Tray hot enough for jerky?

Last reviewed July 2026.

No — its own published maximum sits below USDA's 160°F number. The CO-Z listing title is the category's starkest artifact: it names the maximum temperature (155°F) and calls the unit "Jerky Safe" in the same breath. USDA's jerky number for meat is 160°F; 155°F is below it on the label, before accounting for dial drift or the evaporation gap. "Jerky safe" here is a marketing phrase sitting five degrees under the guidance it evokes. No buy link, per the below-the-line rule.

The facts on file

Sources — read them yourself

• CO-Z — Amazon listing (title: "155 Degree Fahrenheit, Jerky Safe", 1000W, 10 trays)
• USDA FSIS — Jerky (160°F meat / 165°F poultry)

How to read this

USDA's jerky guidance sets the numbers — 160°F for meat, 165°F for poultry — and explains why the dehydrator can't be trusted to hit them on its own: evaporating moisture absorbs the heat, so the meat stays cooler than the air until most of the drying is done. Independent dial testing routinely finds units running 5–15°F below their setting. The answer on every row is the same and costs nothing: the oven step, before or after drying. And remember the dial is not the food's temperature.

Which dehydrators do reach the USDA number

USDA's instruction for jerky is to heat the meat to 160°F (165°F for poultry). A machine whose published maximum sits below that cannot carry out the step, however good it is at drying. These can — cheapest first.

Maximum temperature is the manufacturer's published figure. Reaching 160°F is necessary for the USDA step, not sufficient on its own — the instruction is about the meat's temperature, not the cabinet's.

See every dehydrator we track, claim by claim → · the units marketed for jerky below the line →

Dehydrator Score indexes manufacturer-published temperature specs and marketing claims against the USDA jerky record, with attribution — we test nothing and give no safety advice. No dial setting substitutes for USDA's instruction: heat meat to 160°F (poultry 165°F) in an oven before dehydrating, or bake the finished jerky after — inside a dehydrator, evaporating moisture holds the meat below air temperature until it is already dry. If a maker publishes a spec or manual that changes a row, the page changes — the record wins.

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