can you get food poisoning from pork sausages

Can You Get Food Poisoning from Pork Sausages?

Sausages are enjoyed around the world as a tasty and convenient food. But undercooked pork sausages can potentially cause foodborne illness. Let’s examine how sausages are made, what hazards they may present, and how to handle and cook them safely.

How Sausages Are Made

Sausages consist of ground or chopped meat, fat, spices, and other ingredients stuffed into a casing. Casings may be natural or artificial. Pork is the most common meat, but sausages can also contain beef, chicken, turkey, etc. The raw meat mixture is ground up, seasoned, then fully cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F to eliminate bacteria.

After cooking, sausages may be smoked, dried, or fermented. Smoking adds flavor while drying extends shelf life. Fermentation with beneficial microbes produces tangy sausages like salami. But these processes alone don’t guarantee safety.

Risks of Undercooked Sausages

Eating undercooked pork may expose you to pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, and others. Thorough cooking destroys these organisms, but they can survive in raw or undercooked meat.

Salmonella is one of the most frequent causes of food poisoning. Symptoms like diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps usually start 12-72 hours after ingesting contaminated food.

Listeria infection is rarer but very dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. It can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or severe illness. In healthy people it causes fever, muscle aches, and nausea.

Other types of harmful bacteria can also be present if contamination occurs during processing and handling Always cook sausages to 160°F as measured with a food thermometer.

Safe Handling and Cooking

To prevent illness, proper handling and preparation of sausages is crucial:

• Refrigerate below 40°F. Use within 1-2 days or freeze.

• Avoid cross-contamination. Use separate surfaces and utensils for raw and cooked meat.

• Cook to an internal temperature of 160°F. Check with a food thermometer.

• Don’t reuse marinades used on raw sausages.

• Don’t taste or eat raw sausage meat before thorough cooking.

• Reheat cooked sausages to 165°F until steaming hot before serving.

Do Smoking and Curing Kill Bacteria?

Smoking and curing can help reduce bacteria levels through the use of salt, nitrites, and drying. However, these techniques alone don’t reliably destroy all pathogens.

While smoking uses low heat over time, it doesn’t bring the internal temperature high enough to fully kill germs. And many cured sausages aren’t cooked to 160°F. So smoked or cured meats could still carry some risk if eaten raw.

For full safety, it’s best to cook all sausages to 160°F before eating, even if they were smoked or cured. Reheating to 165°F further reduces any surviving bacteria.

Risks of Pre-Cooked Sausages

Pre-cooked sausages like hot dogs and breakfast links are safe as purchased since they are already cooked to 160°F. However, mishandling after opening can introduce new hazards.

Once opened, pre-cooked sausages should be refrigerated and used within 1-2 weeks. Discard any with an off smell or sliminess indicating spoilage.

Before eating, pre-cooked sausages need thorough reheating to 165°F or until steaming hot to destroy any bacteria that may have multiplied. Don’t leave them at room temperature over 2 hours.

If stored and reheated properly, pre-cooked sausages don’t pose much risk. But they can still cause illness if handled improperly.

Signs of Food Poisoning

Symptoms of foodborne illness may include:

• Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea
• Fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches
• Fatigue
• Symptoms typically start 1-3 days after ingesting contaminated food and last for several days.

See a doctor for severe or prolonged symptoms, which can lead to dehydration. Stool samples may be collected to identify the source. Most cases resolve with rest and hydration, but some require medical treatment.

Preventing Foodborne Illness

You can reduce the risk of food poisoning from sausages by:

• Cooking to safe internal temperatures

• Refrigerating properly and discarding after 1-2 days

• Reheating cooked sausages to 165°F before eating

• Using separate tools for raw and cooked meats

• Avoiding cross-contamination

• Washing hands and surfaces frequently

• Following safe thawing, storage, and expiration dates

When handled safely, sausages can be enjoyed without concern. But always cook pork sausages to 160°F internally, and reheated to 165°F if pre-cooked. With proper precautions, you can feel confident eating sausages without the dangers of foodborne illness.