What Is the Right Internal Temperature of Pork?

When you are cooking, it doesn’t just involve preparing and cooking the food.

There are many other things you have to do, which also include making sure the pork is safely prepared. Meats especially need to be at a specific temperature so you can make sure you don’t get ill.

You can keep an eye on this by checking the internal temperature of the food. One food people may check is pork.

In this article, we will go into what the internal temperature of pork is, how to check it, the risks of eating undercooked meat, and finally, how to safely cook it.

Contents

What Is Pork’s Internal Temperature?
How Do You Check Pork’s Temperature?
What Happens if You Eat Undercooked Pork?
Ways to Safely Cook a Pork
Final Thoughts

What Is Pork’s Internal Temperature?

Meat is supposed to be cooked to a certain temperature. The reason for this is that by cooking it to the required temperature, you can prevent yourself from falling ill from any bacteria that might be lurking inside the pork.

For poultry, the inner temperature needs to be 165. It’s different for red meat, which is meat that is from a four-legged animal with red meat in raw form.

Pork falls into this category, so pork needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. It used to be 160, but the USDA recently lowered it.

How Do You Check Pork’s Temperature?

Now you know pork must be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees, which means now it is the time for us to go into how you can do this in the first place! To check your pork’s internal temperature, you need to follow these steps.

Once you are done cooking your pork, take it out and let it cool for about three minutes. This is called rest time, and it’s used to make sure you get an accurate temperature.
After the three minutes are up, grab your meat thermometer and place it into the Pork. Make sure it’s not touching like bone or fat.
If the thermometer reads the correct temperature, take out the thermometer and wash it.

If you do follow these steps, you will be able to tell if your pork has been thoroughly cooked or not.

Remember, it needs to read an internal temperature of 145 to be considered cooked enough.

What Happens if You Eat Undercooked Pork?

If you eat undercooked pork, you are putting your health at risk. Pork has a lot of bacteria lingering inside, and the last thing you want is for that bacteria to get inside you. Here’s what you need to avoid.

Trichinosis

Trichinosis is caused by the trichinella bacteria that lingers inside pork. If you end up with this infection, symptoms will show up about 1 to 2 days after consumption. After a few days, symptoms you will have are diarrhea, cramps, nausea/vomiting, and fatigue.

It’s important to get treatment right away because if you don’t, trichinosis can cause issues with your heart or brain and lead to death. Should this be caught properly, you’ll recover in a few weeks.

Tapeworms

Another issue with eating raw pork is tapeworms. Tapeworms show up a few weeks after consumption, and common symptoms are GI issues, weight loss, and pain.

One serious complication is that it can cause seizures if the tapeworm has traveled outside of the intensities. If you have this symptom, you need to seek medical attention immediately.

Food Poisoning

Finally, food poisoning is something you can get if you end up eating raw or undercooked pork. Food poisoning isn’t fatal most times.

What it does is just make you uncomfortable for a few days. Expect to spend a few days at home suffering from gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea and stomach cramps.

The best way to avoid these problems is by making sure the pork is cooked through.

Ways to Safely Cook a Pork

Thankfully, there are several ways you can safely cook your pork. The ways to do this include:

One way to cook pork is by grilling it. Turn on whatever device you have and follow the instructions it comes with. Then put the pork on top of it and grill for about 4 to 5 minutes or until the pork is done. Always take notice of what type of grill you have because some will heat the pork faster than others. You are aware to not undercook it, but you also don’t want to overcook it either. This will force you to just throw the pork away.
The second way to cook pork is by doing it in the oven. First, preheat the oven to around 400 degrees. Season the pork and put it into a pan. It should cook for at least 7 to 8 minutes, depending on how thick it is. The thicker it is, the longer it has to cook in the oven.
Finally, one way to cook pork is to do it on the stovetop. Heat some oil in a pan, and once it’s sizzling, put the pork in the pan. Cook them until it’s golden brown on each side. The amount of time depends on how thick the pork chops are, so keep this in mind if you are cooking on the stovetop.

Out of all the ways to cook pork, we felt that these were the three best ways. Not everyone has a grill, so the oven or stovetop is mostly what people are going to go with.

Final Thoughts

And there you go, all you pork lovers out there! Now you know exactly what the internal temperature of pork is, how to check for it, the risks of eating undercooked chicken, and finally, ways to cook it properly.

It may seem daunting to get used to using a meat thermometer, but it’s extremely easy to use. Soon it will become second nature.

Every time you start cooking some meat, you will whip out your meat thermometer and be ready to check the inner temperature.

Also, if you don’t have one on hand, don’t worry because they are really easy and affordable to get ahold of!

You might also be interested in the following:

William Thomas

I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.