Pork roast can it be pink

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Hot Stuff. The chops I cooked tonight were in the s and still slightly pink I'm old school and always had a problem with that "undercooked pork" mentality.

I just couldn't serve it pink, thinking it would make someone sick. My husband hated my pork because it was always white and dry. Now I can serve it the way he likes it, without worry about him getting sick. I've been slow cooking my pork for over 12 hours. It still looks pink but it falls apart with a little touch of a fork. I don't have a meat thermometer but I am pregnant and can't take any risks.

I was wondering if it's done after a 12 hour cook and it's only just under 2 lbs. Good luck with your pregnancy! I think that it is very possible that other pathogens may be lurking in under cooked pork. Pathogens that may very well survive an internal temperature of F and may require a higher temperature of F for at least 3 minutes to guarantee elimination. Of course the same can be said of beef and chicken. The pathogen you know today, may not be the pathogen you know tomorrow.

While meat cooked at lower temperatures may be easier to keep juicy, it may not be the safest decision. Pink isn't a good indicator but we take a risk every time we eat someone else's cooking. With these lowered guidelines there is a lot less margin for error on the part of a potentially overworked and under appreciated cook. Just a few thoughts.

I have always grilled without thermometers, based solely on the release of juices and tenderness of the meat. When cutting my pork directly after grilling, it will be pink. But after resting a few minutes, it turns grey-white.

I'm an avid griller but use ovens less often. I am unsure if this method applies in other cooking styles. This is the first time I've cooked a joint of pork with crackling and had it pink on the top part underneath the crackling and fat but cooked nicely from there downwards. My husband wasn't happy about it, so I had to warm his up, but I ate mine cold with chips. However, I did have it on the highest temperature possible and only turned it down after it had been in the oven cooking for 30mins.

We've got more pork left, which we'll have tomorrow or sometime in the week and I'll let you know if I suffer any illness. I am from the UK but what differences there may be in pig farming and its meat, I don't know. Post a Comment Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns!

When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. Powered by Blogger. Report Abuse. Should Cooked Pork Be Pink? Yes and No. So here's the question. Should pork still be "pink" after it's cooked?

Am I straddling the fence by answering sometimes "yes" and sometimes "no"? My reasoning just might surprise you Please do chime in Well, Yes. And No. Both Answers Are Right! First, the "YES" Answer.

But then again, some times "NO" is the Right Answer. Hungry for More Detail? It's 63 degrees. Favorite Pork Recipes hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe. Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher.

Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes kitchen-parade. Premature browning in ground beef occurs when the interior color is brown, indicative of thorough cooking, but the internal temperature is lower than that needed to kill pathogenic bacteria. Thus, premature browning is of concern from a food safety standpoint. The lesson derived from this combination of findings is to use a meat thermometer— judging meat doneness by appearance alone is risky business and almost guarantees less than optimum eating quality.

Although hemoglobin often comes to mind when thinking about red color in meat, myoglobin plays a much more significant role in meat color. Different forms of myoglobin produce different colors, resulting in purple deoxymyoglobin , red oxymyoglobin , and brown metmyoglobin meat. The chemical reactions of oxygenation and oxidation-reduction produce the three forms, which lead to the change in color as meat is exposed to heat. These changes in color in beef products have been identified for years and are frequently used by consumers and chefs for doneness judgments.

The typical doneness levels of beef rare, medium rare, medium, and well are evaluated by cooked color AMSA, Such guidelines have not been established in pork products. While beef follows a red to pink to brown pattern as it is heated, pork turns from pinkish-red to less pink to tan or white.

Myoglobin concentration in beef is greater than in pork. Consequently, the forms of myoglobin are easier to identify in beef, while the color changes in pork red, purple and brown are more subtle. Muscle pH and quality are factors that have large effects on cooked meat color. Pale, soft and exudative PSE meat, which results from a rapid decline in pH, makes the myoglobin more heat liable and leads to premature browning in cooked product.

Conversely, dark, firm and dry DFD meat has a higher pH, which protects the myoglobin and keeps the meat pink for a longer time than usual. Due to myoglobin form differences, ground pork is not expected to have the same color as whole muscle pork e. The center of chops and roasts are not exposed to oxygen and are purplish-pink.

The anaerobic condition causes the myoglobin to respond to heat in a reliable manner and change from pink to less pink to tannish white when cooked. For ground products, however, all three forms of myoglobin may be present because conditions are more aerobic These three forms react differently to the heat, causing inconsistent cooked color in ground product.

In beef, oxymyoglobin and metmyoglobin turn brown readily when heated, leading to premature browning Hunt et al. Deoxymyoglobin is more resistant to heat and changes color in a predictable manner from red to pink to brown when heated. The pigment form in the center of the ground product is critical to the color observed after cooking.

For instance, if the product begins with a brown interior color, the interior will be brown after cooking. If the product is bright pink in the center, premature browning is possible. But, if the product begins with a purple-pink center, the product will progress from red to pink to tan, just like the chops. Premature browning is a more serious concern in ground pork products than chops and other whole-muscle cuts.

Chops are only susceptible to surface contamination. Therefore, identifying cooked color trends in chops is a product quality concern, not a concern of safety. In ground pork, however, premature browning can result in a patty appearing to be safe when bacteria may still survive. Although cooked color in pork is already complicated enough to frustrate most processors and consumers, the myoglobin in meat can further complicate the situation.

Intact and ground meat can display two other characteristics known as persistent pink color and return-to-redness Cornforth These phenomena are characterized by an unusual degree of pinkness relative to the endpoint temperature. The persistent pink color is principally related to high pH conditions that stabilize myoglobin to heat Mendenhall ; Trout Consequently, the pigment that has not been fully denatured during cooking will appear pink, and when exposed to air, it can become brighter pink due to the formation of oxymyoglobin.

There are numerous factors that affect persistent pinkness; however, most often the culprits are a higher than normal muscle pH and myoglobin predominately in the deoxymyoglobin form. Pork with a pH 6. However, persistent pink color can start to appear at pH 6. This pigment form must be heated to a higher temperature for browning and denaturation than oxy- or metmyoglobin.

The return-to-redness phenomenon a condition separate from persistent pinking can occur in wellcooked, vacuum packaged meats during distribution and storage Cornforth, The brown pigment denatured globin hemichrome is slowly reduced to the pink or red denatured globin hemochrome under anaerobic conditions.

Consequently, the meat will appear tan or brown when cooked but it will be pink to red when sliced by the consumer. In this case, return-to-redness is not a food safety issue because the meat was thoroughly cooked. However, return-to-redness also called color reversion has been associated with microbial growth and spoilage of ground beef Faustman et al. While the different shades of cooked beef color have been studied and are used by chefs and consumers, cooked pork color has not received the same attention.

This contributes to the overcooking of pork and poor consumer responses. To help elucidate the problem, researchers at Kansas State University explored cooked color in pork using FDA-approved endpoint temperatures and recorded the differences in color caused by muscle quality, muscle pH, myoglobin forms and product packaging. From these findings, two cooked color guides were developed that show the shades of color that pork can display when it reaches a safe endpoint temperature.

These guides Hawthorne et al. Muscle pH and product quality affect the cooked appearance of pork chops Lien et al.