USDA lowers pork’s safe cooking temp

Meat dept. man­ager Kevin Mor­lan pre­pares to pack­age bone­less pork loins at a local Dahl

MICHAEL J. CRUMB

Asso­ci­ated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — A bit of pink in pork appears to be OK after all.

The U.S. Depart­ment of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspec­tion Ser­vice will announce Tues­day that it has low­ered its tem­per­a­ture rec­om­men­da­tion for cook­ing pork to 145 degrees. That’s a change from the agency’s long­stand­ing guide­line and means pork will be held to the same stan­dard as beef, veal and lamb.

For chefs, it means the USDA has sanc­tioned what already was com­mon practice.

“I’m glad they have the sense to make that change,” said Rob Weland, a chef at Poste Mod­erne Brasserie, an upscale restau­rant in Washington.

Weland said he has always cooked pork to the lower tem­per­a­ture because chefs knew it was safe and the meat clearly tastes bet­ter. But he said it could take years for back­yard grillers to adjust to the change.

“Peo­ple have been taught this for gen­er­a­tions and it’s going to take a long time to get this removed,” he said. “It will be good for the next gen­er­a­tion not to be so fear­ful so they can enjoy pork in a way they may not have been able to in the past.”

With its lower tem­per­a­ture rec­om­men­da­tion, the USDA also called for let­ting the pork rest for 3 min­utes after remov­ing it from the grill or oven. The meat’s tem­per­a­ture will remain con­stant or rise dur­ing that period, killing any pathogens.

“With a sin­gle tem­per­a­ture for all whole cuts of meat and uni­form 3-minute stand time, we feel it will be much eas­ier for con­sumers to remem­ber and result in safer food prepa­ra­tion,” USDA Under Sec­re­tary Elis­a­beth Hagen said in a statement.

Ceci Sny­der, vice pres­i­dent of mark­ing for the Des Moines, Iowa-based National Pork Board, said restau­rants are reg­u­lated by the U.S. Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion, which has allowed the lower cook­ing tem­per­a­ture for a decade.

The USDA made the change after sev­eral years of research and talks with pro­duc­ers and food safety experts. Pro­duc­ers pro­posed the change in 2008, based in part on new pro­duc­tion meth­ods that reduced the risk of pathogens, Sny­der said, cit­ing improved feed and hous­ing methods.

Dr. James McK­ean, asso­ciate direc­tor of the Swine Indus­try Cen­ter at Iowa State Uni­ver­sity, said 145 degrees is higher than the kill tem­per­a­ture for bac­te­ria and par­a­sites that could make peo­ple sick.

He said one impor­tant change has been to move hogs inside, reduc­ing their expo­sure to wildlife, includ­ing birds and rodents that could carry disease.

“As we’ve moved pigs inside, put them in bird proof build­ings and applied rodent con­trol, the inci­dence of (dis­eases) have dra­mat­i­cally reduced over the past 40 years,” McK­ean said.

“I believe, based on research, 145 degrees is a safe tem­per­a­ture,” he said.

Like Weland, the Wash­ing­ton chef, Sny­der said it would take time before peo­ple feel com­fort­able eat­ing pork with a touch of pink.

“Those myths die hard,” she said.

Despite the new rec­om­men­da­tion, ground meats must still be cooked to 160 degrees and all poul­try prod­ucts must be cooked to 165 degrees.

Sny­der also said it’s impor­tant to use a dig­i­tal ther­mome­ter, placed in the thick­est part of the meat, to ensure it’s prop­erly cooked.

Noah Rose, a chef at the Blue Water Grill in Grand Rapids, Mich., said he wel­comed the change from a prac­tice he thought led to ruin­ing the meat’s flavor.

“This is a step in the right direc­tion,” Rose said.

Posted by AP News on May 24 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.