Eating pork with slightly center pink question

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by thecoffeeguy

Hey Folks.

Thought i would ask a hopefully, simple question since on cooking pork properly that i know very little about.

I was at a business lunch on Tuesday and we went to a Japanese place that served pork Tonkatsu (in fact, they had three items on the menu: 2 pork items, one sashimi bowl).

Long story short, as i was eating the Tonkatsu pork cutlet, i noticed it was a little pink in the middle. Full stop! I panicked because mom always said, cook your pork all the way through to kill any trichinosis. Scared the crud out of me and i stopped eating.

I did some research and it sounds like that it is ok to eat pork that has NOT been cooked all the way through and even with a pink center. This is due to the fact that trichinosis has pretty much been eradicated in the US when they changed how pigs are raised (feed grain/grass...no more meat scraps.) I read one article that said that in 2015 there were 50 reported cases of trichinosis, but the majority were from wild game (bear, boar etc.)

All that being said, have to admit, makes me a little nervous and the thought of getting trichinosis scares the dickens out of me.

For those that have more knowledge on the subject, this something i should be concerned about? I doublt it, but thought i'd ask other CP'ers.

It used to be said cook well to no pink. But today, many cooking sites say it's safe to have some pink. I never trust that though and cook well. Guess, it's no longer dogma though.
But of there are restaurants who will only cook a burger well done for safety reasons but not all of them insist on that.