Curing
The multitude of processes used to prepare cured pork
products (sausages, hams, pork shoulder and other
ready-to-eat products) complicates discussion of standard
requirements for inactivation of trichinae. In the curing
process, the product is coated or injected with a salt mixture
and allowed to equalise at refrigerated temperatures. The
product is then dried or smoked and dried at various
temperature/time combinations which have been shown to
inactivate trichinae (30, 31). Unfortunately, no single or even
combination of parameters achieved by curing has been
shown to correlate definitively with trichinae inactivation. All
cured products should conform in process to one of many
published regulations, such as that of the USDA Code of
Federal Regulations (47). Products not produced in
accordance with approved regulations should be subjected to
testing by the manufacturer prior to sale to the consumer.
Irradiation
Treatment of fresh pork with 30 kilorad of cesium-137
renders trichinae completely non-infective (3).