What precautions should we take with store-bought commercial pork, to prevent getting trichinosis?
Do it still need to be cooked to X degrees (well-done)? If you cook it lightly, what is the risk per thousand meals of rare pork?
I like juicy better than shoe-leather.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/trichinosis/factsht_trichinosis.htm
I often cook pork tenterloins to MR-M and feel totally safe doing so.
Trichinosis is now rare in the U.S. Most cases come from eating undercooked game, not from pork. It is no longer legal for pig farmers to feed their pigs uncooked meat, so the original route by which pigs used to get the disease has been eliminated.
Today’s pork is very lean, so cooking it to 170 F to avoid trichinosis results in dry, overcooked meat. Considering how little chance there is of getting trichinosis from commercial pork, I would say you have little to fear in cooking it to a much lower temperature - say, 140 F.
The worms that cause trichinosis are killed at 137F. With the advent of fast reading accurate digital thermoters it is no longer necessary to cook pork till it is shoe leather.
Trust me, 140 is way rarer than you would ever want to eat pork.
Depending on the cut, I cook to 145-155, and let the meat rest for a few minutes which will allows the temp to continue to rise another 5-10 degrees. The result is a very flavorful, juicy cut of meat.
I eat it raw all the time and have never gotten sick. I eat pretty much all meats raw in some measure and I’ve never been sick.
Cook it medium and you’ll never have to worry about a thing.
The US government cites 145 degrees F as within the “safe” zone.
In the old days, thermometers gauged pork done at about 170 degrees. Today’s much leaner, smaller cuts, chefs (and Hormel, Inc.) recommend 145 degrees. Shooting for 165-170 is going to result in a piece of leather. A little pink is good. The last reported case of trichinosis in humans in the US was 20+ years ago.
From commercial pork, perhaps, but there are still a few cases every year from wild boar and other sources.
USDA inspects pork carcasses for cysts so there would be a very very very very slim chance of getting trichinosis from pork. The only reason I don’t say there is no chance, is because someone will always come up and say that their baby’s daddy’s uncle’s step-brother’s second cousin got trichinosis from pork and died.
Indeed. We recently learned that one should be sure to cook your badger long enough to prevent illness.
The cite lists horse meat as a possible source of the disease. How do horses get to carry the disease, are horses ever fed raw meat?
According to this MMWR, horses can aquire trichinella from contaminated food.
Thanks, puitting meat in horse feed seems to be the expected culprit of passing the parrasites to horses.
Do people infected by this parrasite ever lose the parrasite completely, and if not are there permanent side effects from having the Trichinella cysts in their muscles?
Cannibal who ate my coworker got trichinosis.
I should sumit that to this thread
It just so happens that I did a pork rib roast on the grill last night. I’m normally super paranoid about pork, and for the longest time I wouldn’t even touch it. But… I trust Alton Brown, so I cooked it on the gas grill with mesquite chips (I can’t find apple chips) next to the flame and left it until the thermometer read 140F. It was up to 150 after resting, and when I cut it, the juice was all over the place. It was marvelous. It wasn’t some nasty pork chop leather thing, but a juicy, tasty, delectable delight. I’d no idea that pork could be so good.
Alton said that there should actually be a little pink to the pork, so maybe the temp was higher than the thermometer indicated. I cooked the cord on my precious insta-read, so I had to resort to a crappy, giant, old-fashioned meat thermometer (the same one that ruined my Christmas beef rib roast by letting it get all the way to medium). Incidently, the thermometer indicated that pork should be cooked to the 170F point!!!
So, the insta-read? How do I protect the cord, especially on the grill? Was it just a cheap insta-read? $25 doesn’t seem like it ought to be a cheapie to me… and I need it for so many things.
Cord? What is this cord? My insta-read cost about $12 and has no cord. It’s done me well for a long, long time.
Yeah, that kind. But maybe I’m in the wrong here by calling it insta-read (although it will read virtually instantly). Maybe the instant read thermometers are those kind that you use instantaneously, like the BBQ forks with the built in temperature indicator?
No, I really want my corded thermometer to work – it’s cold in Michigan in January, and I’d rather set the alarm than stand outside babysitting the grill. I’d also rather be working on various projects around the house than babysitting wort for an hour… so I really miss my thermometer. I only used it five or six times before the grill (some of y’all might call it a BBQ, but the southerners get mad at that term) toasted the probe cable… and now I don’t want to buy another one without recommendations.
This is what I think of when I think insta-read.
I think what you want is an time/temp thermometer, something that has a tough enough cord that it can take the heat of a grill/BBQ.
Cook’s Illustrated likes this one. And no cord! They also mention a corded Polder Cooking Thermometer/Timer.
And buck up, my troll friend. I manage with my insta-read when grilling in January, but us yoopers are a tough breed. I guess it’s unfair to expect you southerners to manage without fancy gadgets. 
Now that thermometer has just redefined what I’m looking for. I like it!
For everyone else, I’m a troll 'cos I live under the bridge; not 'cos I’m in here trolling. 
Hey, that’s the one I got! It does have a cord though 
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From my little bit of searching the cord is “supposed” to be safe up to 500F. Balthisar how did you burn yours?
