Hey Arnie!,
I was wondering the same thing myself when I read this recipe.
I did read Smokins' Prime rib 101 and he said something about pasteurization in his FAQ's. Sounded like Smokin' knew what he was talking about...LOL...besides I know rule number "10", so that was good enough for me.
I didn't let it come to room temp before putting into the smoker, something that most articles said to do, once again I followed Smokins' thoughts on this step not being necessary.