in this range for more than two hours. Buffet
dishes should be kept hot, and leftovers
promptly refrigerated and reheated at least to
160ºF/70ºC.
Trichinosis Trichinosis is a disease caused by
infection with the cysts of a small parasitic
worm, Trichina spiralis. In the United States,
trichinosis was long associated with
undercooked pork from pigs fed garbage that
sometimes included infected rodents or other
animals. Uncooked garbage was banned as
pork feed in 1980, and since then the
incidence of trichinosis in the United States
has declined to fewer than ten cases annually.
Most of these are not from pork, but from
such game meats as bear, boar, and walrus.
For many years it was recommended that
pork be cooked past well done to ensure the
elimination of trichinae. It’s now known that a
temperature of 137ºF/58ºC, a medium
doneness, is sufficient to kill the parasite in