Preparing a safe meal for ourselves and our families is important to everyone. Pork and all other meat products can be contaminated with harmful bacteria which can make you sick or lead to food borne illness. We can prevent food borne illnesses by proper handling and cooking of our meats products.  This includes, but is not limited to cooking meat to the correct temperature. In order to ensure that the pork we prepare is safe some food safety basics are extremely important.

• Purchase pork products at the grocery store last to limit the amount of time the meat is not refrigerated.
• Ask store employees to place fresh meats in a separate bag from ready-to-eat foods such as vegetables, fruits, cereals and cooked/deli meats.
• If frozen thaw meat completely before cooking. Do not thaw at room temperature. Thaw in the refrigerator, microwave, or under cold running water.
• Keep pork in the refrigerator or on ice until you are ready to cook to reduce bacterial growth.
• Store thawed meat either in a drawer or on a bottom shelf where juices are less likely to drip onto other fresh foods.
• Marinating meat can both enhance flavor and tenderize meat products. If marinating, do so in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Save a portion of the marinade for a sauce before placing raw meat in it. If the marinade has been used on raw meat, bring the marinade to a full boil for 3 minutes before reusing on the cooked product.
• Practice safe food handling techniques when cooking outdoors or in your kitchen, including washing your hands after handling raw pork, using clean utensils, and having separate plates for raw and cooked meats.
• Use separate cutting boards for raw meats and ready-to-eat foods or wash thoroughly with hot soapy water and sanitize after cutting raw meat.
• Measure the temperature of pork with a thermometer inserted into the side of a piece of meat. This will ensure you are measuring the temperature in the middle of the steak, chop, or ground pork.
• Always cook ground pork products to an internal temperature of 160°F to ensure safety. Do not rely on appearance to determine doneness of ground meat, always use a meat thermometer.
• Keep hot foods above 140°F before serving to stay out of the temperature danger zone (40-140°F).
• Chill left over’s within two hours of cooking.

Cooking Degrees of Doneness

• Ground pork and pork sausages (bratwurst and fresh pork sausage) should be cooked to160°F internal temperature.
• Pork chops, pork tenderloin, and fresh pork roasts should always be cooked to at least 145°F internal temperature with a 3 minute rest time (time after cooking and prior to consumption) after removing the product from the oven, skillet or grill.
• Cured, fully cooked hams can be eaten cold or reheated to 142°F.
• Bacon should be cooked to before eating as well.

Written with contributions from Anna Taylor and Stacy Scramlin