summaryĬhanges to agricultural practices over past decades in the United States have made pork safer to eat. Therefore, thoroughly cooking your pork remains crucial. While it’s too soon to understand the effect of this key change, it could represent less oversight. Previously, only government inspectors could determine which pork products looked safe enough to be sold to the public ( 8). These measures went into effect just 2 months later ( 8). On October 1, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would reduce the number of its inspectors on site and allow pork manufacturers to inspect their pork products themselves.
However, it’s worth keeping in mind that practices in the United States are still evolving. Pork-related tapeworm cases are harder to discern, but globally it’s estimated that 28,000 deaths per year can be attributed to these parasites ( 4). Worldwide trichinosis estimates are much greater - at 10,000 cases each year - most stemming from China and Southeast Asian or Eastern European countries ( 5, 6). In fact, from 2011–2015, an average of 16 cases of trichinosis were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States each year ( 6, 7). Tapeworms may not cause symptoms but can still make you sick and even cause sudden seizures.ĭue to improved agricultural practices in the United States, Canada, and Europe in the last several decades, developing trichinosis has become rare ( 5, 6). Symptoms of trichinosis can include nausea, abdominal cramps, and, later, muscle pains, facial swelling, and high fevers. This includes those who are pregnant, undergoing cancer therapy, or on certain medications which suppress the immune system.Īdditionally, people living with HIV, AIDS, diabetes, or those who have received an organ transplant should be especially careful about where their food is coming from and that it’s being properly prepared. Those with a compromised immune system should be especially vigilant about following food safety guidelines and cooking pork to an appropriate temperature. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, seek prompt medical attention. This means the tapeworm has traveled to other areas of the body like the brain, eye, or heart ( 4). However, if you suddenly experience seizures, this is one of the symptoms of cysticercosis. If symptoms of taeniasis do develop, they usually include:
Tapeworms can be detected about 2 to 3 months after ingestion of contaminated meat by means of a series of stool samples.
On the other hand, tapeworm-related infections like taeniasis or cysticercosis are a bit trickier to diagnose as tapeworms don’t cause immediate symptoms and often go unrecognized. With adequate medical treatment, most will recover from trichinosis in about 8 weeks ( 5). While these complications are rare, they can be fatal. Trichinosis can sometimes lead to more serious complications, affecting the heart or the brain.
In this phase, symptoms like a high fever, muscle ache, light sensitivity, eye infections, facial swelling, rashes, headaches, and chills are common ( 5). Then, a week to several weeks after ingestion, the larvae begin to burrow themselves into muscle and intestinal walls. Once the larvae enter your digestive system and begin to reproduce on days 5 to 7, you may experience gastrointestinal upset, with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, and abdominal cramps ( 5). Symptoms of trichinosis can emerge within 1 to 2 days of consuming the contaminated, undercooked pork - but may not show for up to a week after ingestion ( 5). These are typically killed in the cooking process - which is why it’s crucial to cook your pork thoroughly. summaryĮating raw or undercooked pork can make you very sick and put you at risk for parasites like roundworm or tapeworms. To diminish the risk of developing these infections, you should always cook your pork to the appropriate temperature. Thus, eating rare or undercooked pork is not considered safe. These lead to infections, like taeniasis or cysticercosis ( 3, 4). What’s more, eating rare or raw pork also puts you at risk of certain tapeworms, Taenia solium or Taenia asiatica, entering your digestive tract and reproducing. Other animals, like wolves, boars, bears, and walruses, can also be carriers of this roundworm ( 1, 2). One parasite found in pork is Trichinella spiralis, a roundworm which causes an infection called trichinosis, also known as trichinellosis. Thus, when pork isn’t cooked through to its proper temperature, there’s a risk that those bacteria and parasites will survive and be consumed. This is because pork meat, which comes from pigs, is prone to certain bacteria and parasites that are killed in the cooking process. Unlike steak, which can be eaten without being fully brown on the inside, pork that’s bloody (or rare) on the inside should not be consumed.