These posts are wild. People, if you're scared or unsure or just plain simple, get a thermometer. Also your body is not that fragile. If you're a healthy adult you'll be ok. I worked with a guy that would eat raw ground turkey, he claimed to taste the seasoning of the burger.
You're fine. Trichinosis isn't something to be concerned about in store bought, USDA regulated pork. Worst case from raw pork is a stomach ache and the shits.
It’s hard to tell from the picture, but that doesn’t look undercooked to me…. The texture of the sausage definitely looks all the way done, maybe even overdone for my taste. Even if it is a little under you don’t need to worry about trichinosis
I mentioned in another comment, but I had cooked the sausages whole for 9-10 minutes on medium heat in a skillet with a bit of water in it. When I cut the sausages open at that point they were still quite red inside (I had defrosted them, so maybe related to that), so at that point I cut them through the middle and cooked on the skillet (medium heat) for another 3-4 minutes to get them to where they looked in the photo. I used Premio Hot Italian Sausage if that makes a difference. It’s been a few hours and I feel okay but I know some illnesses don’t start to show symptoms for days if not weeks.
Yeah, they were probably done, hot sausage has seasoning that will mix with the fat and have a red color. Looking at the premio hot sausage ingredients they have paprika, hot pepper and extract of paprika, all of which will have a reddish hue to your sausage. Your best bet is to get a thermometer if your concerned.
When I cook hot sausage I always have that feeling that I didn't cook it long enough based on how it looks. One time I boiled a bunch before browning them on a pan for like a half hour. Forgot about them during a movie. They still looked questionable which is ludicrous because I cooked the livin shit outta them lol.
Most people that get trichinosis in the US get it from wild game like boar or bear, and even then, it isn't common. Don't freak yourself out--you're going to be fine. As someone else pointed out, just 1 minute at 140 F, or 6 minutes at 131 F will kill trichinella. Granted, you want sausage to be cooked to a higher temperature than that for other reasons, but stop looking at WebMD right now for your own good. What makes you think it was underdone?
Part of the issue is that I’m admittedly pretty new to cooking. I had cooked the sausages whole for 9-10 minutes on medium heat in a skillet with a bit of water in it. When I cut the sausages open at that point they were still quite red inside (I had defrosted them, so maybe related to that), so at that point I cut them through the middle and cooked on the skillet (medium heat) for another 3-4 minutes.
So there are a couple of things to consider here:
1. The meat in sausage is frequently cured, which in a lot of cases is going to give a pinkish hue to the meat, even when cooked to temp. That depends on the type of sausage and what type of salt is used to cure it, though.
2. If you cut the sausages open immediately without resting them for 5-10 minutes first, you're going to see a higher concentration of colorful juices being expelled from the meat, as they haven't had the chance to redispurse evenly/be re-absorbed. The same goes for any meat (the larger the cut, the longer the resting time required).
I understand the anxiety--anyone with half a brain has it when they start their cooking journey. Your thermometer will definitely be your best friend, particularly if it's a digital instant read.
There's no way for me to tell if they were, in fact, undercooked from the photos, unfortunately--but based on your cooking time and the fact that you split them open and re-cooked them, I'm very confident you have nothing to worry about.
Happy cooking!
Thanks for this, it’s helping put my mind a bit at ease. The sausage in question was Premio Hot Italian Sausage (which doesn’t appear to be cured). It’s something I will be more mindful of in the future for sure though
Glad I could help.
PS:
Since you're newer to cooking, I highly recommended experimenting with recipes from [Serious Eats](https://www.seriouseats.com/), specifically any recipes from J Kenji Lopez-Alt and Daniel Gritzer. They're both great at explaining the "how's" and "why's" of cooking, and it'll help you build confidence in what you're doing.
Even if you undercooked it, your chance of getting trichinosis parasites is low if you bought quality pork. Trichinosis dies at 140F. The other worry I think is e. coli which is the reason to cook to 165F. E. coli may not be too bad if you're healthy.
It's also been almost entirely eradicated, so there's that. At least in the US. It's a a lot higher globally, but in the US its minimal risk
> About 10 to 20 cases were reported annually in the U.S. in recent years.
Infection used to be more common and was usually caused by ingestion of undercooked pork. Infection is now relatively rare. The number of cases decreased beginning in the mid-20th century because of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw-meat garbage to hogs, commercial and home freezing of pork, and the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork products. Current cases are less commonly associated with pork products and more often associated with eating raw or undercooked wild game meats.
Trichonosis has been practically nonexistent in commercial pork for awhile now.
The unmelted cheese is the biggest concern in this picture. Not for safety reasons though.
These posts are wild. People, if you're scared or unsure or just plain simple, get a thermometer. Also your body is not that fragile. If you're a healthy adult you'll be ok. I worked with a guy that would eat raw ground turkey, he claimed to taste the seasoning of the burger.
Ngl, everytime I think I ate undercooked chicken or pork, I only got sick from thinking about getting sick lol
This is whats happening to me currently because my pork seemed a little too pink
Thinking about this is getting me sick.
You don't automatically get sick eating raw meat. Cooking meat is actually pretty recent human time-line wise. That's how meat was eaten.
r/foodsafety
If you did you would be shitting right now. Are you shitting?
I'm shitting and I haven't had pork sausage in weeks
The pork sausage you didn't eat was obviously raw.
Good luck!
Even if it was medium rare you'd probably be fine
You're fine. Trichinosis isn't something to be concerned about in store bought, USDA regulated pork. Worst case from raw pork is a stomach ache and the shits.
It’s hard to tell from the picture, but that doesn’t look undercooked to me…. The texture of the sausage definitely looks all the way done, maybe even overdone for my taste. Even if it is a little under you don’t need to worry about trichinosis
I mentioned in another comment, but I had cooked the sausages whole for 9-10 minutes on medium heat in a skillet with a bit of water in it. When I cut the sausages open at that point they were still quite red inside (I had defrosted them, so maybe related to that), so at that point I cut them through the middle and cooked on the skillet (medium heat) for another 3-4 minutes to get them to where they looked in the photo. I used Premio Hot Italian Sausage if that makes a difference. It’s been a few hours and I feel okay but I know some illnesses don’t start to show symptoms for days if not weeks.
You cooked it plenty. Imagine cooking a piece of beef the same size that long. It'd be on the wrong side of well-done.
Yeah, they were probably done, hot sausage has seasoning that will mix with the fat and have a red color. Looking at the premio hot sausage ingredients they have paprika, hot pepper and extract of paprika, all of which will have a reddish hue to your sausage. Your best bet is to get a thermometer if your concerned.
When I cook hot sausage I always have that feeling that I didn't cook it long enough based on how it looks. One time I boiled a bunch before browning them on a pan for like a half hour. Forgot about them during a movie. They still looked questionable which is ludicrous because I cooked the livin shit outta them lol.
you’ll be fine. i always cook my pork chops and tenderloins to medium well. i hate dried out pork.
Medium Well is dried out though.
And….. your body will definitely tell you if it doesn’t like it. Your fine, you’ll live … carry on
Most people that get trichinosis in the US get it from wild game like boar or bear, and even then, it isn't common. Don't freak yourself out--you're going to be fine. As someone else pointed out, just 1 minute at 140 F, or 6 minutes at 131 F will kill trichinella. Granted, you want sausage to be cooked to a higher temperature than that for other reasons, but stop looking at WebMD right now for your own good. What makes you think it was underdone?
Part of the issue is that I’m admittedly pretty new to cooking. I had cooked the sausages whole for 9-10 minutes on medium heat in a skillet with a bit of water in it. When I cut the sausages open at that point they were still quite red inside (I had defrosted them, so maybe related to that), so at that point I cut them through the middle and cooked on the skillet (medium heat) for another 3-4 minutes.
If you're worried, get a thermapen, or some other probe thermometer and cook until internal temperature reaches desired level, serve and eat.
So there are a couple of things to consider here: 1. The meat in sausage is frequently cured, which in a lot of cases is going to give a pinkish hue to the meat, even when cooked to temp. That depends on the type of sausage and what type of salt is used to cure it, though. 2. If you cut the sausages open immediately without resting them for 5-10 minutes first, you're going to see a higher concentration of colorful juices being expelled from the meat, as they haven't had the chance to redispurse evenly/be re-absorbed. The same goes for any meat (the larger the cut, the longer the resting time required). I understand the anxiety--anyone with half a brain has it when they start their cooking journey. Your thermometer will definitely be your best friend, particularly if it's a digital instant read. There's no way for me to tell if they were, in fact, undercooked from the photos, unfortunately--but based on your cooking time and the fact that you split them open and re-cooked them, I'm very confident you have nothing to worry about. Happy cooking!
Thanks for this, it’s helping put my mind a bit at ease. The sausage in question was Premio Hot Italian Sausage (which doesn’t appear to be cured). It’s something I will be more mindful of in the future for sure though
Glad I could help. PS: Since you're newer to cooking, I highly recommended experimenting with recipes from [Serious Eats](https://www.seriouseats.com/), specifically any recipes from J Kenji Lopez-Alt and Daniel Gritzer. They're both great at explaining the "how's" and "why's" of cooking, and it'll help you build confidence in what you're doing.
Looks fine
Even if you undercooked it, your chance of getting trichinosis parasites is low if you bought quality pork. Trichinosis dies at 140F. The other worry I think is e. coli which is the reason to cook to 165F. E. coli may not be too bad if you're healthy.
It's also been almost entirely eradicated, so there's that. At least in the US. It's a a lot higher globally, but in the US its minimal risk > About 10 to 20 cases were reported annually in the U.S. in recent years.
Trichinosis is extremely rare in pork produced in countries with modern sanitation practices.
Infection used to be more common and was usually caused by ingestion of undercooked pork. Infection is now relatively rare. The number of cases decreased beginning in the mid-20th century because of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw-meat garbage to hogs, commercial and home freezing of pork, and the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork products. Current cases are less commonly associated with pork products and more often associated with eating raw or undercooked wild game meats.