curedmeat.com / Safety / Hazards
Trichinellosis
Trichinella spiralis
A parasite in pork muscle. Killed by heat, by sustained freezing, or by a validated curing and drying schedule.
Controls, with the source for each
| Parameter | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Heating | 13 published time and temperature combinations, from 21 hours at 120 F to instant at 144 F | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Trichinella Compliance Guideline, Table 1 |
| Freezing | 20 days at 5 F, 10 days at -10 F, 6 days at -20 F for pieces up to 6 inches thick | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 2 |
| Drying | 14 to 50 days in the drying room, by casing diameter | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 3 |
Freezing. Doubled for pieces or layers over 6 inches and up to 27 inches.
Drying. Reducible by a warm hold before drying, and lengthened where less than 3.33 lb of salt per hundredweight is used.
Why it matters here
Trichinella is the reason the federal government once published an exact drying schedule for sausage by casing diameter. That regulation was removed in 2018 and the schedules moved into guidance, but the parameters did not change.
Notes
- Scientific support for Trichinella elimination cannot be used to support Salmonella lethality, and support for Salmonella lethality cannot be used to support Trichinella elimination. FSIS says this in both guidelines.
- 9 CFR 318.10, which prescribed these treatments, was removed effective 30 July 2018 by the rule at 83 FR 25302.
Steps that bear on this hazard
What this page is not
This page reports published parameters. It does not tell you that any preparation is safe. Whether a specific product met a parameter is a question about that product, answered by measuring it, and no page can do that for you.
FSIS guideline identifiers and their URLs are listed on the methodology page. CFR citations are to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9, as in force on 1 January 2026.