i recently read about how bad eating uncooked pork can be to your body
i normally dont eat smoked food, but decided to try smoked pork, and was told that i could eat it raw
is it safe to eat raw smoked pork? (without any preparation, just unwrap it and eat it)
thanks
p.d. by the way, i bought the smoked pork from the supermarket
Answer John:
First the parasite that pork (and bear) can contain is called Trichinosis. It is a worm that used snails in its life cycle. Pigs and bears eat the snail and become infected. The worms discharge larvae that travel in the circulatory system of the host, into the heart and into the striated muscle tissue of the host where they coil and enclose themselves in a cyst. Eggs are shed through the fecies and the cycle begins again. The infection can be passed on by eating the infected flesh or in the case of the snail, the fecies.
What you need to know about the smoked pork you have is what temperature it was smoked to and whether it is pre-cooked. Smoked does not mean it is raw. If it has a browned wrinkled appearance, it has been exposed to some level of heat.
It is possible to cold smoke the meat then cook it. Or in some cases the pork will be cooked and smoked at the same time. Temperature should reach no less than about 150-160 to kill the worm.
Now the good news is commercial pork is pretty much Trichinosis free. Commercially raised pork does not range free so cannot pick up the worm. They are usually raised enclosed on concrete and fed corn.
The interesting thing is that this "uncleanliness" of pork is the root of the Hebrew and Muslim religious mandate against eating pork. I personally think someone caught a look of pigs feasting on the tens of thousands of corpses lying about after one of the genocidal clashes prevalent in the middle east back in the days when the Israelites were reconquering the Promised Land. Islam just copied the restriction the Hebrews had codified. Pigs are pretty practical and will eat most anything lying about, including buried corpses.
I would check the label and see if it has the words "Pre-cooked" on it, or says "cook before eating". Or ask your grocier to be 100% sure.
