TITLE 9--ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

CHAPTER III--FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE,
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE   Sec. 318.10 

Prescribed treatment of pork and pork products to destroy trichinae.

All forms of fresh pork, including fresh unsmoked sausage containing pork muscle tissue, and pork such as bacon and jowls, other than those covered by paragraph (b) of this section, are classed as products that are customarily well cooked in the home or elsewhere before being served to the consumer. Therefore, the treatment of such products for the destruction of trichinae is not required.

Pork from carcasses or carcass parts that have been found free of trichinae as described under paragraph (e) or (f) of this section is not required to be treated for the destruction of trichinae.

Products named in this paragraph, and products of the character thereof, containing pork muscle tissue (not including pork hearts, pork stomachs, and pork livers), or the pork muscle tissue which forms an ingredient of such products, shall be effectively heated, refrigerated, or cured to destroy any possible live trichinae, as prescribed in this section at the official establishment where such products are prepared: Bologna, frankfurter, vienna, and other cooked sausage; smoked sausage; knoblauch sausage; mortadella; all forms of summer or dried sausage, including mettwurst; flavored pork sausages such as those containing wine or similar flavoring materials; cured pork sausage; sausage containing cured and/or smoked pork; cooked loaves; roasted, baked, boiled, or cooked hams, pork shoulders, or pork shoulder picnics; Italian-style hams; Westphalia-style hams; smoked boneless pork shoulder butts; cured meat rolls; capocollo (capicola, capacola); coppa; fresh or cured boneless pork shoulder butts, hams, loins, shoulders, shoulder picnics, and similar pork cuts, in casings or other containers in which ready-to-eat delicatessen articles are customarily enclosed (excepting Scotch-style hams); breaded pork products; cured boneless pork loins; boneless back bacon; bacon used for wrapping around patties, steaks and similar products; and smoked pork cuts such as hams, shoulders, loins, and pork shoulder picnics (excepting smoked hams, and smoked pork shoulder picnics which are specially prepared for distribution in tropical climates or smoked hams delivered to the Armed Services); ground meat mixtures containing pork and beef, veal, lamb, mutton, or goat meat and other product consisting of mixtures of pork and other ingredients, which the Administrator determines at the time the labeling for the product is submitted for approval in accordance with part 317 of the regulations in this subchapter or upon subsequent reevaluation of the product, would be prepared in such a manner that the product might be eaten rare or without thorough cooking because of the appearance of the finished product or otherwise. Cured boneless pork loins shall be subjected to prescribed treatment for destruction of trichinae prior to being shipped from the establishment where cured.

The treatment shall consist of heating, refrigerating, or curing, as follows:
 

 Heating.

All parts of the pork muscle tissue shall be heated according to one of the time and temperature combinations in the following table:  

     (ii)

Time and temperature shall be monitored by a calibrated recording instrument that meets the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section, except for paragraph (c)(1)(iv).
 

The time to raise product temperature from 60 deg. F. to 120 deg. F shall not exceed 2 hours unless the product is cured or fermented. 
 

Time, in combination with temperatures of 138 deg. F to 143 deg. F, need not be monitored if the product's minimum thickness exceeds 2 inches (5.1 cm) and refrigeration of the product does not begin within 5 minutes of attaining 138 deg. F (58.9 deg. C).
 

    (v)

The establishment shall use procedures which insure the proper heating of all parts of the product. It is important that each piece of sausage, each ham, and other product treated by heating in water be kept entirely submerged throughout the heating period; and that the largest pieces in a lot, the innermost links of bunched sausage or other massed articles, and pieces placed in the coolest part of a heating cabinet or compartment or vat be included in the temperature tests.
 

Refrigerating. At any stage of preparation and after preparatory chilling to a temperature of not above 40 deg.F. or preparatory freezing, all parts of the muscle tissue of pork or product containing such tissue shall be subjected continuously to a temperature not higher than one of those specified in table 1, the duration of such refrigeration at the specified temperature being dependent on the thickness of the meat or inside dimensions of the container.

     (i)

Group 1 comprises product in separate pieces not exceeding 6 inches in thickness, or arranged on separate racks with the layers not exceeding 6 inches in depth, or stored in crates or boxes not exceeding 6 inches in depth, or stored as solidly frozen blocks not exceeding 6 inches in thickness.
 

Group 2 comprises product in pieces, layers, or within containers, the thickness of which exceeds 6 inches but not 27 inches, and product in containers including tierces, barrels, kegs, and cartons having a thickness not exceeding 27 inches.
 

The product undergoing such refrigeration or the containers thereof shall be so spaced while in the freezer as will insure a free circulation of air between the pieces of meat, layers, blocks, boxes, barrels, and tierces in order that the temperature of the meat throughout will be promptly reduced to not higher than 5 deg. F., -10 deg. F., or -20 deg. F., as the case may be.
 

In lieu of the methods prescribed in Table 1, the treatment may consist of commercial freeze drying or controlled freezing, at the center of the meat pieces, in accordance with the times and temperatures specified in Table 2.

     (v)

During the period of refrigeration the product shall be kept separate from other products and in the custody of the Program in rooms or compartments equipped and made secure with an official Program lock or seal. The rooms or compartments containing product undergoing freezing shall be equipped with accurate thermometers placed at or above the highest level at which the product undergoing treatment is stored and away from refrigerating coils. After completion of the prescribed freezing of pork to be used in the preparation of product covered by paragraph (b) of this section the pork shall be kept under close supervision of an inspector until it is prepared in finished form as one of the products enumerated in paragraph (b) of this section or until it is transferred under Program control to another official establishment for preparation in such finished form.

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