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6 months agoThe USDA and FDA, which both lean conservative in their recommendations, consider whole cuts of pork safe down to 145F (roughly equivalent to cooked to medium):
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2011/05/25/cooking-meat-check-new-recommended-temperatures
https://www.fda.gov/media/107000/download
This has been the case for over a decade. Pork should be cooked but the old 160F recommendations have been gone for a long time now because commercial pork is relatively safe.
Also note that this is the one-minute pasteurization temp; meat can be held at a lower temperature for longer to render it safe.
The correct response to that is to provide the actual guidelines based on actual data, not to fearmonger while quoting lines referencing wild game.
A huge part of why commercial pork is safe – that you’re consistently leaving out – were major changes to how livestock are raised. Trichinosis transmission in pigs is primarily caused by the consumption of infected meat; US standards were changed to more strictly control what’s fed to pigs, which led to the decreased risk. The risk remains in wild boar because they’re omnivores that will scavenge whatever they can find.
145 isn’t a hard limit. It’s the recommended holding temperature for one minute.