Reactions to the report were all over the board. As we noted, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) called the results “simply terrifying,” The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the study showed that pork is safe to eat and reminded consumers to cook it properly, and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) rebuffed the study as “junk science” that was “designed to scare consumers into purchasing only organic pork.”
It turns out there is a lot of confusion about Yersinia enterocolitica. Because it’s not one of the top pathogens responsible for foodborne illness in the United States, food safety advocates and researchers don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it.