Pathogen fears confirm need to cook pork properly
Microbiologists on a specialist Food Standards Agency advisory committee have confirmed recommendations that pork meat should be well cooked prior to eating, contrary to advice from the pig meat industry over recent years that the meat is more succulent if it is less well cooked or rare.
Last week’s recommendations from the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) came as evidence mounts that contraction of the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis from eating undercooked meat could be more widespread than originally thought.
The need to properly cook meat - particularly pork and pig offal - was reinforced by concerns presented to the ACMSF about potential foodborne transmission of the Hepatitis E virus in the UK.
In a paper presented by Dr Judith Hilton, head of the FSA’s Microbiological Safety Division, to the ACMSF last week it was stated: “Evidence suggests that infection of food producing animals (animals reared for meat) with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii may be common. Recent research, in the Netherlands and the US, has estimated that the disease burden due to toxoplasmosis may be more significant than previously thought and may be greater than several other foodborne pathogens due to the severity of the disease.”
These findings support the results of other researchfrom scientists employed by the AFFSA, the French equivalent of the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA).
While the number of reported cases of toxoplasmosis in the UK is low - 117 laboratory confirmed cases between 1998 and 2005 in England and Wales - there is thought to be widespread underreporting because of the absence of symptoms in most healthy people. However for pregnant women, their babies and others with suppressed immunity to infection, the consequences can be far more serious - and sometimes fatal.
Hilton suggested the true figures could “treble the current figure” of reported cases of toxoplasmosis, which she said were a “gross underestimate”
The toxoplasmosis report to the ACMSF stated: “Pigs, sheep, cattle, poultry and fish can all be infected and there may be a particular risk from poorly cured and fermented meat products. There is little information on the tolerance of toxoplasma to salting and fermentation. However, freezing at -20°C and heating to 70°C is lethal to the cysts.”
The ACMSF acting chair Professor Sarah O’Brien called on the FSA to carry out more comprehensive studies before the committee could make any further recommendations on the matter.
