The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1920-12-16
PORK NEEDS MUCH COOKING
Statement by the United States
Department of Agriculture

son prompts the United States De-
partment of Agriculture to issue
warning against eating pork or any
products containing pork unless it is
well cooked. At this season, espec-
tally, quantities of certain kinds of
pork products which many persons
are accustomed to eat uncooked are
prepared in homes and on farms, as
we'll as commercially. Uncooked pork
frequently contains parasites of micro
scopic size known as trichinae. and
persons who eat uncooked pork run
the risk of contracting trichincsis, a
most painful and distressing disease
which sometimes ends fatally in spite
of any treatment. The health of pa
tents who recover from the acute
Sstages of the disease is often per-
4 8nanently impaired.
1t is important to remember that
uncooked pork is likely to contain live
trichinae no matter how healthy the
animal from which it came may have
appeared, or how excellent the meat
looks. A satisfactory method of meat
inspection to discover these parasites
has not yet been devised. Hence with
certain exceptions it is dangerous to
eat uncooked pork even though it has
been "U. S. Inspected and passed"
In order to safeguard consumers
who may be ignorant or careless of
the dangers of raw pork, the Depart
ment of Agriculture requires that cer-
tain kinGs of ham, sausages and otheG
pork products prepared in establish
ments operating under the Federal
meat inspection be subjected to pro-
cesseS that are known to destroy tri-
chinae, such processes, however, are
required only in the cases of those
pork products that are customarily
eaten without cooking. In the case OF
other products such as fresh pork and
ordinary varities of ham, susage and
bacon, which in the United States are
customarily cooked by the consumers
before they ere eaten, special pro-
,,ceesses to destroy trichinae are not
FUSED in meat-packing establishments
mder Federal inspection, According
IL, unless the product is definitely
nown to have been specially pro-
ssed to destroy trichinae, it is high
important that the consumer make
ne that pork is properly cooked be-
i Ire it is eaten. The most affective
I'd simplest precaution against trich-
osis is to avoid eating uncooked or
iproperly cooked pork.
The trichinae parasite die and be-
Tome harmless when exposed to suf-
Eicient heat. They are so small that
Yeven though present in large numbers
they do not appreciably affect the
E value or desirability of the meat for
food purposes, provided it is not eaten
raw or imperfectly cooked.
y In the case of uncurcd pork the
shoroughness of the cooking can be
Judged by whether the meat clear to
the center of the piece has lost its
reddish, bloody appearance and has
become more or less white in color
Heat penetrates slowly into pieces of
meat during cooking and the temper
ature near the center ordinarily never
approaches very closely that of the
surrounding air or water.
How Long to Cook Pork
The following rule for cooking pork
by boiling is based on careful expert
ments carried out some years ago by
a Danish investigator:
Cook the meat Is minutes (sum-
mer) to 1S minutes (wintcr) for each
pound of weight if put into boiling
water, keeping the water boiling
thoroughout the cooking process. If
the meat is put into cold water deduct
half the time required to bring the
water to a boil.
Examples: How long should 10
pound ham be boiled if placed in boil
ing water? Ten multiplied by IL
\usls $50 minutes, or hours. How
- ould a 10-pound ham be boiled
4 in cold water and if hour Is
to bring the water to a boil:
ktiplied by 1S, minus 80,
- + 30 minutes or 2 1-2 hours,
ing begins.
ying the rule given above,
nutes per pound allowance
followed in summer as well
inter if the meat is taken
refrigerator and cooked be-
,re it has had time to reach
nary house temperature. For
Attitudes, where the temperature
oilinp water is considerable less