Toronto loves pork. So why do we have to eat it overcooked all the time? The USDA announced today that it’s safe to cook pork medium rare, or 145 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s quite a dramatic shift from the well-done 160 degrees previously preached by the organization and currently required by Toronto Public Health.
Apparently, the new USDA recommendation is the result of recent advances in food safety and the increased nutritional content of today’s pork (most pork has become 16 per cent leaner over the past 20 years, according to the National Pork Board). But Jim Chan, manager of food safety for Toronto Public Health, maintains that cooking pork under 160 degrees won’t guarantee that all of the potential pathogens and parasites in the meat, like trichinosis, are killed.
Keith Froggett, executive chef at Scaramouche, says that government agencies can be a little strict with their regulations – and understandably so. “They err on the side of safety,” he says. Still, he admits that cooking pork well-done can dry and shrink the meat.
So will the USDA’s new recommendation affect Toronto Public Health at all? Probably not, Chan says. The agency comes up with its own guidelines through independent research. Deliciously cooked pork, it seems, will be left to rogue chefs (at least for now).