TNN
New Delhi, May 4: Not only cooked pork but even processed pork products like ham, sausage, bacon and salami are safe to eat. So, feel free to gorge on your ham and salami club sandwich or a spicy pork vindaloo.
With pork dishes fading away from restaurant menus worldwide, the World Health Organisation on Sunday made it amply clear that no influenza viruses are capable of surviving the heat at which pork is usually cooked across the world.
On whether processed pork products like ham and salami were safe to eat raw, Dr Peter Ben Embarek, WHO's food safety scientist at Geneva, told a global press conference that TOI was part of that "the procedure undertaken to process the meat kills and inactivates any existing influenza viruses for sure".
According to him, influenza viruses are not known to be transmissible to people through eating processed pork or other food products derived from pigs. Heat treatments commonly used in cooking meat (700C/1600F) will readily inactivate any viruses potentially present in raw meat products.
However, he added that to be doubly sure, authorities and consumers should ensure that meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead are not processed or used for human consumption under any circumstances.
Dr Embarek said, "From the studies done on influenza viruses till now, be it swine, avian or human influenza types, we know of one single common characteristic for sure -- they are not heat resistant. As soon as you cook pork, any viruses if present gets inactivated and dies. There is therefore absolutely no risk in getting infected through consumption of pork or processed pork products. It takes a lot of heat and time to make processed pork product, which automatically kills the virus."
He added, "However, the risk might start from the early part of the food chain. Farm workers or slaughter house owners, who are in touch with live or dead animals, may be at risk of contacting the virus. We have seen such transmissions with the H5N1 avian influenza virus."
Doubts over pork products increased across the world with Canada reporting the first transmission of the deadly H1N1 infection from human to pigs.
Pork dishes in restaurants and hotels across the world including India have taken a serious beating in this H1N1 outbreak. Sales have dropped by almost 90% despite assurances by authorities that the flu virus cannot be caught from eating pork.
Four global organisations issued a joint statement on Saturday to calm fears that swine flu could be transmitted by pork products. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Trade Organisation said as long as pork and pork products were handled properly, they would not be a source of infection.
The statement said, "There is no justification for the imposition of trade measures on the importation of pigs or their products."
Nearly 20 nations, including China, Russia, Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines and Thailand, have temporarily halted the import of live pigs and pork products from Mexico and parts of the US.
Egypt and parts of India began slaughtering pigs even though the country has not reported any cases of swine flu.