I always hear that pork has to be thoroughly cooked to prevent things like trichinosis and other parasitic infections. However there’s a lot of types of cured pork commonly eaten, right? Here in Spain everyone eats ham, lomo, chorizo and other stuff that is cured but essentially not cooked, and the few cases of trichinosis that happen are all from people eating game they hunt themselves. Is pork really dangerous?
In: Biology
So there are a few things to unpack. First, trichinosis has been eradicated in at least some domestic pig areas. I believe this is true in the US, I am not sure about Europe. As a result, some have called for easing of temperature guidelines for pork.
That said, the long curing process you’re referring to for traditional curing makes for an inhospitable environment for both bacteria and parasites. Done properly, it’s equivalent to cooking from a food safety perspective.
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