Insights \ Health Hits

If you followed the old government guidelines for cooking pork, you risked turning a succulent chop into a tough, dry chunk. Heating a piece of pork to 160 degrees, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's previous bottom limit for safety, meant cooking it to medium-well or well-done.

That's fine, if you prefer your pork tough and tasteless--or if you prepare pork with lots of liquid in roasting pan and crock pot.

Grilling or pan frying a pork chop to a lower temperature preserves natural juices and tenderness--and is perfectly safe. Pork with a little pink in the middle isn't going to kill you--and now the USDA agrees.

Just in time for Memorial Day, the department has revised its safe cooking recommendations:

• For whole pieces of pork, beef, veal and lamb, cook them to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Measure at the thickest part of the meat with a meat thermometer. Then let the meat to rest for three minutes before carving or consuming.

• For ground meats, the recommendation is still 160 degrees.

• Cook poultry to 165 degrees.

The department made the change because of consumer confusion about pork. "Historically, consumers have viewed the color pink in pork to be a sign of undercooked meat," the USDA said. "Appearance in meat is not a reliable indicator of safety or risk."

The only way to tell if you've cooked meat to a safe temperature, the department says, is with a meat thermometer.

Happy grilling!

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