Scientific American recently featured an excerpt from Modernist Cuisine. Its comments on food safety were somewhat interesting.
The excessive restrictions on cooking pork didn’t come out of nowhere. In decades past, pork was intrinsically less safe than other meats because of muscle infiltration by Trichinella and surface contamination from fecal-borne pathogens like Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens . As a result, people learned to tolerate overcooked pork, and farms raised pigs with increasing amounts of fat—far more fat than is typical in the wild ancestors of pigs such as wild boar. The extra fat helped to keep the meat moist when it was overcooked.
Since then, research has sharpened our understanding of pork-associated pathogens, and producers have vastly reduced the risk of contamination through preventive practices on the farm and in meat-processing facilities. Eventually the FDA relaxed the cooking requirements for pork; they are now no different than those for other meats. The irony is that few people noticed—culinary professionals and cookbook authors included.
Such standards appear to have effected both the fat content of the meat itself, and remain in most people's minds regarding cooking practices. The excerpt later notes that even advisory committees setting regulations for cooking temperatures admit being influenced by the set consumer practices and their historical expectations. Time to try some nice rare pork?
Another interesting note:
the tally of outbreak-linked foodborne illnesses attributable to produce was nearly double the tally of such illnesses associated with poultry
This book has attracted some great endorsements, but it's probably not one that I'll be putting on my bookshelves anytime soon. First off, it runs for about $500. Secondly, it's targetted at the "molecular gastronomy" crowd (i.e. food nerds with large budgets and way too much time on their hands), and as such is a little too impractical for my tastes. To quote Michael Ruhlman:
Much of the cooking requires ingredients most people haven’t heard of and equipment few can even afford. A rotary evaporator costs thousands of dollars. A not atypical recipe step reads “Cavitate in an ultrasonic cleaning bath for 30 minutes.'
This, BTW, is what a rotary evaporator is.
