There’s nothing fun about food poisoning from pork

You can thank your mother for hounding you about washing your hands. It’s one of the ways to prevent food poisoning from pork!

Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Yersinia enterocolitica—they’re not just big words to throw around and show off your smarts.

• They’re some of the bad bacteria that are responsible for food poisoning from pork.

The contamination of pork can take place at any stage of production—at the feedlot, at the slaughterhouse, during shipping, or at market.

• The bacterium Yersinia enterocolitica occurs naturally in the gut of the pig and can be a source of yersiniosis in humans.
• The parasite Trichinella spiralis causes trichinellosis/trichinosis, another kind of food poisoning from pork that needs early treatment.

Food poisoning from pork can look like severe stomach flu; it usually appears within 24 to 48 hours after eating contaminated food. The symptoms can include:

• nausea
• headache
• abdominal pain
• diarrhea
• vomiting

Most healthy people recover from food poisoning from pork without needing treatment, unless they have a parasitic infection such as trichinosis.

• Those cases need to be treated as early as possible with an antiparasitic drug.
• Consult a doctor if you see blood in your vomit and diarrhea or if symptoms persist for more than three days.

When it comes to buying and handling pork, caution is required. The following tips can help you avoid food poisoning from pork.

• Check the expiration date on the package.
• Buy from an experienced and reliable supplier.
• Refrigerate or freeze meat as soon as possible after purchase and cooking.
• Make sure the internal temperature of the thickest part of your cut of pork has reached 74°C (165°F) before serving it.
• Consume leftovers within one to two days of their initial cooking.
• Wash your hands before and after handling the meat and wash the utensils with hot soapy water.
• Discard any meat that looks or smells bad.

Eating pork doesn’t have to go by the wayside. There’s no need to let food poisoning from pork scare you away from enjoying a juicy chop or a succulent pork roast.

• Keep in mind these preventive measures, and you and pork can stay friends.