Are you Overcooking your Pork?
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 4:01AM 
On May 24, 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new food safety guidelines for cooking pork and a 15-degree amendment to the recommended internal temperature made it officially acceptable to enjoy perfectly pink pork. For those of us who had been surreptitiously enjoying medium-rare chops for years, it was a red-letter day. Finally, we could shout our message of tender, juicy, trichinosis-free pork from the rooftops!
But it’s been over a year now, and people still blanch at the slightest blush. So, here’s my plea -- the next time you’re cooking a whole muscle cut, like a chop, loin or roast (ground pork should still be cooked to 160 degrees), keep a meat thermometer handy and pull that pork off the heat when it reaches 145 degrees. The new white meat’s gone pink and it’s good.