FSIS-GD-2016-0002

Trichinella drying schedule

Days in the drying room for a sausage, from the casing diameter, with the published reductions for a warm hold beforehand and the published increases for reduced salt.

This schedule is Sausage Treatment Method 6 from the FSIS Trichinella compliance guideline. It was codified at 9 CFR 318.10 until that section was removed effective 30 July 2018; the numbers did not change when it moved into guidance.

The tables are stepped and FSIS states that no interpolation of values is permissible, so this calculator takes the next entry up rather than interpolating between them.

Table 3: drying room days by casing diameter

Sausage Treatment Method 6, FSIS-GD-2016-0002
Casing diameter at stuffing, up to (inches)	Days in drying room
1	14
1.5	15
2	16
2.5	18
3	20
3.5	23
4	25
4.5	30
5	35
5.5	43
6	50

Table 3A: reduction for a hold before drying

Percentage reduction in drying room time by hold temperature and duration
Hold temperature (F)	24 h	48 h	72 h	96 h	120 h
70	4	9	14	19	24
75	5	12	19	26	33
80	8	18	28	38	48
85	10	25	39	53	67
90	15	35	55	75	95
95	23	49	74	98	100
100	37	88	100	100	100
105	57	100	100	100	100
110	90	100	100	100	100
120	100	100	100	100	100

Table 3B: increase for reduced salt

Required percentage increase where less than 3.33 lb of salt per hundredweight is added
Salt added (lb per 100 lb)	Increase in drying time (%)
3.3	1
3.2	4
3.1	7
3	10
2.9	13
2.8	16
2.7	19
2.6	22
2.5	25
2.4	28
2.3	31
2.2	34
2.1	37
2	40

Calculate

Casing diameter at stuffing (inches)

Flattened or oval sausages: measure the circumference and divide by pi.

Hold temperature before drying (F)

Hold duration (hours)

FSIS: no interpolation of values is permissible.

Salt added (lb per 100 lb of formulation)

Days in the drying room

Working

base, 3 inch casing            = 20 days
no qualifying hold before drying = no reduction
after reduction                 = 20 days
salt at or above 3.33 lb/cwt    = no increase
required                        = 20 days

This schedule addresses Trichinella and nothing else. FSIS is explicit that support for Trichinella elimination cannot be used to support Salmonella lethality, or the other way round. A sausage that has completed this drying schedule has not thereby been shown to be free of Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 or Listeria.

Worked example

FSIS gives this one in the guideline itself, as footnote 1 to Table 3A.

Sausage stuffed in a 3 inch casing requires 20 days in the drying
room. If allowed to ferment, after addition of curing materials,
at 80 F for 48 hours, the 20 day drying time may be reduced 18
percent. Eighteen percent of 20 days equals 3.6 days. Twenty days
minus 3 days equals 17 days.

This site's calculator reproduces that: base 20, reduction 18 %,
3.6 days rounded down to 3, giving 17.

Source: FSIS Compliance Guideline for the Prevention and Control of Trichinella and Other Parasitic Hazards in Pork and Products Containing Pork (FSIS-GD-2016-0002), March 2016. These parameters were codified at 9 CFR 318.10 until that section was removed effective 30 July 2018 (83 FR 25302). FSIS now publishes them as guidance: an establishment may use them, or validate something else. They are not a legal minimum.

What this does not tell you

This addresses Trichinella and nothing else. FSIS states that support for Trichinella elimination cannot be used to support Salmonella lethality, or the other way round.
It is a guideline, not a legal minimum. An establishment may validate something different.

Hold temperature (F)	24 h	48 h	72 h	96 h	120 h
70	4	9	14	19	24
75	5	12	19	26	33
80	8	18	28	38	48
85	10	25	39	53	67
90	15	35	55	75	95
95	23	49	74	98	100
100	37	88	100	100	100
105	57	100	100	100	100
110	90	100	100	100	100
120	100	100	100	100	100

Salt added (lb per 100 lb)	Increase in drying time (%)
3.3	1
3.2	4
3.1	7
3	10
2.9	13
2.8	16
2.7	19
2.6	22
2.5	25
2.4	28
2.3	31
2.2	34
2.1	37
2	40

Hold temperature (F)	24 h	48 h	72 h	96 h	120 h
70	4	9	14	19	24
75	5	12	19	26	33
80	8	18	28	38	48
85	10	25	39	53	67
90	15	35	55	75	95
95	23	49	74	98	100
100	37	88	100	100	100
105	57	100	100	100	100
110	90	100	100	100	100
120	100	100	100	100	100

Salt added (lb per 100 lb)	Increase in drying time (%)
3.3	1
3.2	4
3.1	7
3	10
2.9	13
2.8	16
2.7	19
2.6	22
2.5	25
2.4	28
2.3	31
2.2	34
2.1	37
2	40

Hold temperature (F)	24 h	48 h	72 h	96 h	120 h
70	4	9	14	19	24
75	5	12	19	26	33
80	8	18	28	38	48
85	10	25	39	53	67
90	15	35	55	75	95
95	23	49	74	98	100
100	37	88	100	100	100
105	57	100	100	100	100
110	90	100	100	100	100
120	100	100	100	100	100

Salt added (lb per 100 lb)	Increase in drying time (%)
3.3	1
3.2	4
3.1	7
3	10
2.9	13
2.8	16
2.7	19
2.6	22
2.5	25
2.4	28
2.3	31
2.2	34
2.1	37
2	40