DES MOINES, Iowa – Shad Kirton knows first-hand that old cooking habits die hard.
The award winning barbecue chef can’t convince his own mother that it’s safe to eat pork that’s cooked at lower temperatures.
“To this day, me and my mom go round and round on how long it should be cooked and at what temp,” Kirton said as he stood next to a cast iron barbecue at the World Pork Expo, held in Des Moines June 8-10.
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“I’ve stopped cooking with her,” he added with a laugh.
In late May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture changed its recommended cooking temperature for cuts of pork, lowering the final temperature from 160 to 145 F.
Kirton said the decision will allow consumers to enjoy moist, succulent pulled pork at home, but it will take years of promotion and education to win over reluctant home chefs like his mother.
“Daughters and mothers and everyone was taught that you had to cook pork until it was burnt to a crisp,” said Kirton, who has appeared and competed onBBQ Pitmasterson The Learning Channel.
“As a chef, for years I’ve been cooking my pork to 130 to 135 degrees … especially pork loin. The reaction I get from my customers is amazing…. It’s juicy. It’s got flavour. You don’t need to put a lot of sauce on it.”
The lower temperature recommendation applies to muscle cuts of pork such as loins, chops and roasts. Ground pork should still be cooked to 160 F.
USDA scientists based their recommendation on food safety experiments that determined the cooking temperature that kills pathogens in the meat.
Liz Wagstrom, a science and technology specialist with the National Pork Producers Council, said some consumers still associate undercooked pork with trichinosis, an illness caused by an intestinal roundworm.
However, trichinosis is no longer an issue with U.S. pork, thanks to improved production methods.
As a result, the USDA’s experiments focused on salmonella because it’s the most heat-resistant pathogen in pork.
“So what is the lowest possible cooking temperature you can go to and still make sure you were able to kill any salmonella?” said Wagstrom.
She said scientists had a difficult time finding pork with salmonella. They bought thousands of retail pork roasts before they found a cut with salmonella bacteria.
“It was crazy. It was an immense number…. It was thousands of roasts before they found anything they could do the research on.”
Audrey Adamson, the pork council’s vice-president of domestic policy issues, said the USDA took six years to determine that cooking pork at a lower temperature is safe. However, it may take longer to get the public to eat pork that is pink in the middle.
The council will invest in promotional and educational campaigns to convince the public.
“Food safety isn’t sexy. You’ve got to sex it up,” she said.
“You have a celebrity food culture now, for good or for evil…. It would be great if every celebrity chef pulled a meat thermometer out of their jacket pocket when they’re cooking on TV.”
While it will take time, Kirton said information about pork cooking temperatures will probably spread the old fashioned way.
“It’s a word of mouth thing…. It’s all about communication.”
Kirton did have one specific piece of advice for daughters and sons: get someone else talk to your mother about pork and cooking temperatures.
RECIPE FOR SAFE COOKING
•the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that all cuts of lamb, beef, veal and pork be cooked to 145 F
•ground meat should continue to be cooked to 160 F
•let meat stand for three minutes before slicing because the temperature remains steady or continues to rise when meat rests, which destroys pathogens
•pork will appear pink in the middle of the cut at 145 F, but it doesn’t mean the pork is undercooked
•the Canadian Food Inspection Agency continues to recommend cooking pork to 160 F
