- Nov 26, 2007
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Pork is actually very safe now, at least in the US. Trichinosis has been gone for almost 35 years (again, in the US). I now enjoy my pork chops medium rare.Originally posted by: Cogman
What he said, as long as you get it to the right recommended temperature, you should be fine, just make sure you treat some things especially careful (Poultry, Pork, and Fish can be really bad for food poisoning, not so much beef)
Originally posted by: CycloWizard
Pork is actually very safe now, at least in the US. Trichinosis has been gone for almost 35 years (again, in the US). I now enjoy my pork chops medium rare.Originally posted by: Cogman
What he said, as long as you get it to the right recommended temperature, you should be fine, just make sure you treat some things especially careful (Poultry, Pork, and Fish can be really bad for food poisoning, not so much beef)
I always thought that too. That is, until I got engaged to the daughter of the world's foremost porcine veterinarian. Restaurants still don't want to serve him rare pork chops, but they usually concede.Originally posted by: Cogman
I guess I still cling to old wives tales, Im not even 35 years old and yet I have always heard that uncooked pork will most likely give you Trichinosis.
Originally posted by: CycloWizard
I always thought that too. That is, until I got engaged to the daughter of the world's foremost porcine veterinarian. Restaurants still don't want to serve him rare pork chops, but they usually concede.Originally posted by: Cogman
I guess I still cling to old wives tales, Im not even 35 years old and yet I have always heard that uncooked pork will most likely give you Trichinosis.
Originally posted by: Cogman
Originally posted by: CycloWizard
Pork is actually very safe now, at least in the US. Trichinosis has been gone for almost 35 years (again, in the US). I now enjoy my pork chops medium rare.Originally posted by: Cogman
What he said, as long as you get it to the right recommended temperature, you should be fine, just make sure you treat some things especially careful (Poultry, Pork, and Fish can be really bad for food poisoning, not so much beef)
I guess I still cling to old wives tales, Im not even 35 years old and yet I have always heard that uncooked pork will most likely give you Trichinosis.
Originally posted by: lousydood
On a similar note, one time I saw someone "sterilizing" a cup by putting it (empty) in the microwave. I told her that wouldn't do anything because microwaves heat only water molecules specifically. But then I thought about it some more: wouldn't micro-organisms contain water and therefore be killed by the microwave anyhow? In any case, I don't consider it a good way to clean things, but perhaps it has more effect than I thought?
Originally posted by: HVAC
It is of course necessary to assure that there are low enough levels of metals that can activate (become radioactive) in the food treated this way.
Back to topic: Kursk, I put "sterilize" in scare quotes on purpose. And recall, I wasn't trying to do this myself. It is true that there are many microbes in the human body and surrounding us. That doesn't make cleanliness a pointless habit. Might I remind you of the untold suffering that was common prior to the existence of modern plumbing and sewage systems? In the 19th century, even, how often people died from dysentery, cholera, and other easily preventable diseases? Or that surgery killed more than it saved? I think people forget -- or, take for granted -- how important hygiene, clean water, and sewage really is.
Originally posted by: HVAC
Nuclear radiation will sterilize things, though. Many things, including milk, are sterilized this way in europe. Once this is done, the containers may be put on the shelf (no refrigeration) and keep for several years without additional preservatives.
It is of course necessary to assure that there are low enough levels of metals that can activate (become radioactive) in the food treated this way.
Originally posted by: PaperdocOne post recommended a pressure cooker for that, and it works because it cooks at temperatures significantly above 100 C (212 F) - you can't exceed that temperature at normal atmospheric pressure. BUT even then you need to use particular techniques, because the issue becomes how to seal the sterilized food in a container without re-contaminating it by handling after the cooking / cooling phases.
Originally posted by: Cogman
Originally posted by: HVAC
Nuclear radiation will sterilize things, though. Many things, including milk, are sterilized this way in europe. Once this is done, the containers may be put on the shelf (no refrigeration) and keep for several years without additional preservatives.
It is of course necessary to assure that there are low enough levels of metals that can activate (become radioactive) in the food treated this way.
Nuclear radiation is NOT used very commonly to treat food that way. Mostly they place the liquid under pressure and exposed it to ultra high heat for a few seconds. I lived in europe and never saw anything that claimed to be irradiated. Things with extra long shelf lives (like milk) would almost always say that they where treated under the ultra high heating process.
Originally posted by: lousydood
HVAC, what does radioactivity have to do with microwaves? Microwaves are the upper (shorter) end of the radio wave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, close to infrared.
Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb
Originally posted by: lousydood
HVAC, what does radioactivity have to do with microwaves? Microwaves are the upper (shorter) end of the radio wave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, close to infrared.
Erm... microwaves come from the lower energy end of the spectrum and have wavelengths longer than visible light (beyond IR).