PORK TEMPERATURE CHART

Pork temperature chart

Whether braised, fried, barbecued, broiled, or even in a stew, pork meat goes well with most recipes. To complex flavors brought by the different cooking methods applicable to pork makes it a great main protein for many types of dishes. Additionally, flavor, texture, and suitability to dishes vary depending on the cut of pork. These types of pork cuts also require different cooking times and internal temperatures to achieve maximum flavor and the safest quality. Correct internal temperatures have been established to address any potential foodborne illness that could result from eating undercooked pork. Each cooking method and cut of pork will vary the time and temperature of cooking. To make sure that you hit all the requirements every time, use a pork temperature chart.

Cooking meat to the right internal pork cooking temperature ensures that it stays juicy and tender while being safe to consume as well. Trichinosis is the most associated foodborne illness caused by unsafe and undercooked pork. This foodborne disease is caused by the parasite Trichinella spiralis. Although, there is no need to be afraid of eating pork. As long as a strict food safety management system and correct internal temperatures are applied, any pork dish will be as delicious and safe as any.

Learn how to use a pork temperature chart in this article and find out how you can manage your food safety operations without breaking a sweat.

What is a pork temperature chart?

A pork temperature chart is a reference tool that can be used as a guideline for cooking pork using different types of cooking methods and cuts of meat. The different cuts of pork require varying cooking times but almost the same required cooking internal temperature. Pork cuts have different toughness depending on their location. Generally, the rib and loin cuts have the most tender textures, whereas the shank and shoulder are known to produce the toughest products. Shoulder and meats are tough because they are mostly used for everyday locomotion and have more connective tissue. As such, you can expect to cook these cuts longer even with a small piece of meat.

Use a pork temperature cooking chart to know how long and at what internal temps should you cook your pork. Pork temperature charts are divided into 5 different cooking methods:

• Braising - slowly cooking a pork cut that is partially submerged in oil and water or broth to tenderize the meat; otherwise known as the pot roast method.
• Barbecuing - slowly cooking pork cuts at low heat directly at the heating source using a metal grill to hold the meat.
• Roasting/ Baking - slowly cooking pork using dry heat inside an oven.
• Broiling - cooking cuts of pork with the heat source on top, with the piece of pork at least 4 to 5 inches away.
• Sauteing - cooking different cuts of pork using a small amount of oil in a pan over medium-high heat.

Your pork proper cooking temperature chart can be used to cook like a professional and ensure that the dish you are serving is safe and has great flavors. Each guide for a type of cooking method will have its cooking temperature of pork and is based on information from food safety agencies such as the National Pork Board in the United States. The general rule is to cook cuts such as chuck roast, loin, tenderloin, and pork chops at 145°F or 63°C, whereas ground meats such as ground pork, must be cooked at 160°F or 71°C. Use a pork temperature chart and your trusty digital food thermometer to properly cook pork. 

Who needs a pork temperature chart?

A pork temperature chart is most useful for food establishments such as restaurants that deal with many different pork dishes. Additionally, a pork cooking chart is also useful for other food establishments such as cafeterias, fast-food chains, food trucks, care facilities that serve pork, and others. It can also be used by convenience stores, deli shops, and butcher shops that specialize in meats. A pork temperature chart can be placed in the fresh meat section and can serve as a guide for consumers when buying.

What are the benefits of a pork temperature chart?

In addition to ensuring properly cooking pork to safe temperatures, a pork temperature chart can offer more benefits. There are too many cuts of pork that it is just not quite practical to memorize the ideal temperature for each cut. Serving undercooked pork can potentially cause foodborne illnesses which can significantly affect your food business. Even with a very clean cooking environment, if you serve raw meat to customers, food safety risks will always be very high.

Using a pork temperature chart offers the following benefits:

• Reminder for accurate cooking. A pork temperature chart is meant to be used as a cooking guide especially for high-traffic kitchens where all operations happen very fast. With all the many varieties of pork cuts and cooking methods, it would be very hard to remember everything. It is meant to ensure that food workers know at what temperature and the what average cooking time will they cook a particular cut of pork to keep customers safe and satisfied. Use a pork temperature chart and a digital cooking thermometer to verify the exact temperature and the recommended cooking time based on weight.

• Food safety assurance. As we mentioned, different cuts of pork require different cooking times and temperatures. As an example, sauteing pork tenderloin will only take about 4-8 mins, whereas braising it will require 8-10 mins even if they are both 1/2 inch in size. Cooking temperature for pork dishes is an important factor in keeping them safe. Similarly, bone-in or deboned meat will have varying cooking times. The minimum cooking internal temperature to kill the main pathogen in pork that causes food poisoning is 63°C or 145°F which is the minimum cooking temperature for pork. 

• Food safety training for employees. A part of training food employees is orienting them with the importance of food safety and the proper food safety practices. This includes properly cooking pork in different cooking methods. They also have to know particular terms such as carryover cooking and how to use a digital thermometer to measure meat temperatures. A pork temperature chart can help startup this training and ensure that your food employees are well equipped with the needed information. Additionally, introducing the significance of serving undercooked pork can be paired with the use of a consumer advisory.

• Educate consumers. A pork temperature chart can also be useful for consumers. Meat shops can use this as an educational guide for interested consumers who are purchasing pork. It can be used as a reference for home cooking. Butcher shops and deli stores can use specialized temperature cooking charts such as pulled pork temperature char, Boston butt cooking temperature chart, and pork ribs temperature chart to inform consumers.

All of these benefits are attainable with a well-structured pork cooking temperature chart. This document can become an important part of your food safety management system and can contribute to maintaining compliance. This tool is a more specific version of the cooking temperature chart for meats which gives you an overview of the most important internal cooking temperatures.

A pork temperature chart can also help you answer some of the most asked questions in cooking pork such as:

Is pork done at 160 degrees?

The recommended safe temperature in cooking any cut of pork is 145°F or 63°C. This applies to cuts such as pork tenderloins, chops, loins, ribs, shoulders, and roasts.

Is pork done at 170 degrees?

At an internal temperature of 170°F or 76°C, pork is considered as done. At this temperature, flavorful pork can be harder to achieve as the minimum cooking temp for well-done cooking doneness is 160°F or 71°C.

Is pork done at 140 degrees?

Ideally, you have to cook pork to at least 145°F or 63°C with a three-minute rest time for carryover cooking from the residual heat to say that it is safe to eat. Cooking pork at 140°F or 60°C can increase the risk of foodborne illnesses.

Can you eat pork at 145 degrees?

Yes! Food agencies have established that it is safe to eat pork that is cooked at 145°F or 63°C internal temperature confidently.

How to create a pork temperature chart?

To achieve the maximum benefits of a pork temperature chart, it must have the necessary elements of an informative visual aid. Since cooking pork has many different variables, you have to make sure that everything is considered. Think of how will this chart be used in a kitchen and apply how you want it to look.

To help you decide on how to make a pork temperature chart, consider the following key elements:

• Reliable. Since there are many types of pork temperature charts, it's important that your chart contains all the necessary information which includes, the cooking recommendation temperature, recommended cooking time per weight, types of cut, and ideal cooking weight. Your cooking temperature chart needs to be well-researched and based on established information.
• Accurate. In addition to being complete, the information you put in your cooking chart must also be accurate. A few differences can cause significant changes in the outcome. Inaccurate data can either increase the risk of undercooking, therefore the risk of food safety issues, and the risk of overcooking your pork which is a quality issue.
• Clear. Cooking pork accurately entails several sets of information. In making a pork cooking chart, make sure that all information is readable and well lined. A hard-to-read chart can cause mistakes in the kitchen and can increase the risk of inaccurate cooking and foodborne illnesses. 
• Updated. Every now and then, new studies are conducted in search of a more efficient method and parameters for cooking. The results of these researches are used by food agencies as a recommendation for pork cooking parameters and accurate cooking time estimates to establish new cooking standards. Make sure to check out updates from reputable food agencies on food safety laws, regulations, and standards when making your chart.

You can hire a professional artist to make a pork cooking chart to personalize it for your food business. Alternatively, if you are on a tight budget, you can easily use our pork cooking chart. You can download it for free and print it for everyone in your food business. What's more is that you can also get other free charts, posters, and even templates for checklists from our HACCP plan template hub.

Digital solution to monitoring your food safety operations

Correctly cooking to the right pork internal temperature is part of your important food safety practices to maintain compliance with food safety laws. It must be regularly monitored to ensure consistency in operations. As such, it must be a part of your comprehensive food safety management plan to have a pork cooking temperature chart. Additionally, you have to ensure that it is applied correctly on top of managing your food business and advertising to maximize your profits. At some point, these tasks can become too heavy.

As such, you can use our digital Food Safety Management System to save time, increase efficiency, and maintain compliance with all major food safety laws and regulations. Our system allows you to switch from a paper-based FSMS to a completely digital one without the hassle in just 15 minutes. All you have to do is to answer basic questions about your food business and we will do the rest. We automatically generate a digital FSMS based on your answer and tailor all documents and procedures to your food operations.

Still not convinced? Here are a few more benefits that you can when you sign up with us:

• Get all the most important food safety monitoring forms as soon as you finish answering our basic questions. These monitoring forms are tailored to the most important food safety operations of your food business and can be further customized. 
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• Review your entire food safety operation progress from an overview generated by our real-time dashboard. All completed and lacking tasks are logged into our system in real-time. You can identify which areas need more attention with just a glance and focus your attention on them.  
• Our system provides an automatic notification feature that alerts concerned food safety employees and managers of any breach in food safety standards and critical limits in your operation through our mobile app. Additionally, you can also use this notification system to set deadlines for certification and permit renewals, and audit schedules.
• Contribute to a more sustainable food industry by switching to digital FSMS. All your documents can be stored and organized through dedicated cloud storage for your food business.

Our digital FSMS is your fastest gateway to staying compliant with food safety laws. Using a machine-learning program, our system helps you automatically create a digital FSMS with the best food safety practices and monitoring forms for your food business. Monitor your everyday operations with us and get to save at least 15x more time from micromanaging your food safety operations and focus more on improving your food business.

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