On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 248

inthisrangeformorethantwohours.Buffet
dishes should be kept hot, and leftovers
promptlyrefrigeratedandreheatedatleastto
160ºF/70ºC.
TrichinosisTrichinosisisadiseasecausedby
infection with the cysts of a small parasitic
worm,Trichinaspiralis.IntheUnitedStates,
trichinosis was long associated with
undercooked pork from pigs fed garbage that
sometimes included infected rodents or other
animals. Uncooked garbage was banned as
pork feed in 1980, and since then the
incidence of trichinosis in the United States
hasdeclinedtofewerthantencasesannually.
Most of these are not from pork, but from
suchgamemeatsasbear,boar,andwalrus.
Formanyyearsitwasrecommendedthat
porkbecookedpastwelldonetoensurethe
eliminationoftrichinae.It’snowknownthata
temperatureof137ºF/58ºC,amedium
doneness,issufficienttokilltheparasitein


meat;aimingfor150ºF/65ºCgivesreasonable
safetymargin.Trichinaecanalsobe
eliminatedbyfrozenstorageforaperiodofat
least20daysatorlowerthan5ºF/–15ºC.
“MadCowDisease”

“Madcowdisease”isthecommonnamefor
bovinespongiformencephalopathy,orBSE,a

diseasethatslowlydestroysthebrainsof
cattle.It’sanespeciallyworrisomedisease
becausetheagentofinfectionisanonliving
proteinparticlethatcannotbedestroyedby
cooking,andthatappearstocauseasimilar
andfataldiseaseinpeoplewhoeatinfected
beef.Westillhavealottolearnaboutit.
BSEoriginatedintheearly1980swhen
cattlewerefedby-productsfromsheep
sufferingfromabraindiseasecalledscrapie,
whosecauseappearstobeachemicallystable
proteinaggregatecalledaprion.Thesheep
prionssomehowadaptedtotheirnewhostand