Just found out 40% of pork sold in the US has a specific parasite that freezing at -4F for 20 days kills. Why isn't this more common knowledge?

Was reading through some USDA reports I found online last night and stumbled on that stat about trichinella in pork from 2023. Has anyone else here dealt with customers who insist on eating rare pork?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley584d ago

Right? The whole "other white meat" thing was such a scam. I remember my grandpa used to make pork chops that were basically shoe leather because that's what everyone thought you had to do. Then you go to a nice restaurant and they serve it medium rare and it's actually good. The 20 day freezer thing is ridiculous though. I've got a chest freezer in the garage and I still wouldn't plan that far ahead for dinner. Most people just throw the pork in the fridge to thaw the morning of and hope for the best.

zarak184d ago

Funny you mention that, because it gets me thinking about how the pork industry pushed the whole "pork is the other white meat" campaign back in the 90s. That was basically marketing to make people think pork was as safe as chicken, but really they just adjusted cooking temps later to account for trichinella being rare now. The real issue is that freezing at those temps for 20 days is a HUGE pain for home cooks, so most people just cook it well done and call it a day. Nobody wants to wait three weeks to eat a pork chop.