[nafex] Bears & trichinosis

[Lucky Pittman <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 07:43 PM 07/24/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Cook it well, though.  Every few years, I read an article about someone
>who caught trichinosis from bear meat.  (That suggests that other people
>like to eat bear, too.)

Putting on my veterinarian hat here....
Right you are, Ginda.  Consumption of undercooked bear is probably the 
prevalent source of trichinosis for folks in the US & Canada, as the 
majority of our pork supply, anymore, is raised entirely on concrete, and 
fed only processed grain/soy feeds.
Public health regulations requiring the cooking of garbage fed to hogs did 
a lot to lessen the incidence of T.spiralis infection in swine, but there's 
precious little garbage feeding going on these days.
Generally, freezing meat at -10 F for 10-20 days &/or cooking to 137 F 
internal temperature(but I'd do 160 F to make sure I killed any E.coli 
O157:H7) will kill any Trichinella larvae which may be encysted in meat.
Louis L. "Lucky" Pittman, Jr., DVM
Veterinary Pathologist/Asst. Prof.
Murray St. Univ.-Breathitt Veterinary Ctr.
Hopkinsville, KY


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