Hi, I am a bit concerned that the pork sausage I made was a bit undercooked. I took only one bite but then began to get a bit worried, which wasn’t helped by reading all the illnesses/parasites you can apparently get from undercooked pork (trichinosis in particular). Wanted to get your thoughts? Unfortunately I don’t currently own a food thermometer but have ordered one.
by pt168
9 Comments
Trichinosis is extremely rare in pork produced in countries with modern sanitation practices.
Even if you undercooked it, your chance of getting trichinosis parasites is low if you bought quality pork. Trichinosis dies at 140F. The other worry I think is e. coli which is the reason to cook to 165F. E. coli may not be too bad if you’re healthy.
Looks fine
Most people that get trichinosis in the US get it from wild game like boar or bear, and even then, it isn’t common. Don’t freak yourself out–you’re going to be fine. As someone else pointed out, just 1 minute at 140 F, or 6 minutes at 131 F will kill trichinella. Granted, you want sausage to be cooked to a higher temperature than that for other reasons, but stop looking at WebMD right now for your own good. What makes you think it was underdone?
And….. your body will definitely tell you if it doesn’t like it. Your fine, you’ll live … carry on
you’ll be fine. i always cook my pork chops and tenderloins to medium well. i hate dried out pork.
It’s hard to tell from the picture, but that doesn’t look undercooked to me…. The texture of the sausage definitely looks all the way done, maybe even overdone for my taste. Even if it is a little under you don’t need to worry about trichinosis
You’re fine. Trichinosis isn’t something to be concerned about in store bought, USDA regulated pork. Worst case from raw pork is a stomach ache and the shits.
Even if it was medium rare you’d probably be fine