Now I am afraid, to eat whats left of our FIRST pig.

[justusnak]

A few weeks ago..I had given my son a few packages of sliced ham, I had left from our early summer pig slaughter. We have eaten MOST of this pig...but still have some bacon and sausage left. Here is my delima...

My son had taken a pack of sliced ham from his freezer, and thawed it in the fridge. Well, this package had somehow gotten pushed to the back, and was there for "several weeks" When he finally noticed it...he opened it to find WORMS in the MEAT!!
We have been eating this pig all summer!!! What happened!?? Should I just throw the rest out!?? Now I dont feel so well.

 

[PamsPride]

EWW! No advice on the other meat but, I would definetly do a parasite cleanse to get rid of the worms you already did eat!

 

[enjoy the ride]

My Mom always said pork products have to be well cooked because of tricinosis -from an intestinal worm which can live in the muscles of pigs. It is a worm picked up by ominvores- people who eat bear have come down with it.
With most pork products in the US being housed in places where it is not likely to pick it up and with modern worming practices, it is pretty uncommon in US pork production.
If the meat you eat is well cooked, that should have killed this problem. If that is what it is- did your son ID what the parasite was? I suppose it could be maggots picked up before the meat was processed. But I would have thought that freezing should have taken care of this if it was frozen long enough.

If it is the intestinal worm, my reading indicated that it mostly causes a flulike intestinal problem in people but occasionally can work its way into nerves or other things causing worse problems.

But I agree- ewweeeeee.................

added it's trichinosis- should look up before posting...............

 

[FarmerChick]

I process hogs constantly.
I would eat the rest of the pork with no problem.
Cook well that is all.
If a pack got pushed way back----was it frozen when you picked it up from the processer? You do not know how that one individual package might have been handled at the processer....maybe fly larvae on the meat????? Not to freak you out, but if you don't identify the actual worms, then you don't know what they are.

so it might be only this pack that somehow got larvae in it before packaging??? so it might not be your whole pork at all or from your pork at all.

just a thought.

but me, I eat anything (almost...HA HA) and if the packages I open are fine looking, then yup, eat it and don't worry. You have been fine so far.....it sounds more like a one pack problem to me.

 

[justusnak]

Thanks everyone. We have all been eating this pig, and no problems. My son said it was a long white worm. I wish he would have taken a pic of it. KIDS! ( well, he is 25, but VERY city boy now)
I guess....just makeing sure it is cooked well....we will continue to be fine. Whew.. I was grossed out there for a while, just thinking of it!
I did worm my pig, about 30 days before processing...might have been 45 days. Cant remember now for sure. However, I followed the directions on the swine worming meds. Thanks again..I can rest easy now.

 

[2dream]

ewwwwww.....No way I would eat it. LOL - but thats just me. I would probably be sick just thinking about all I had already eaten.

Of course like FC says, It is probably fine, since you have been eating it all along.

In reality - you have been eating this pork all along. And if cooked properly will kill any thing in there. If you can get past the mental aspect. Which I would never be able to do. I am one of those people that know the Federal Gov allows a certain amount of rat droppings, bugs, etc in our food. And I know that I have probably swallowed at least one spider during my sleep according to all the research. Not to mention probably insect eggs from my own homegrown veggies. But...even though I know.....I don't really KNOW because I didn't actually see any of that stuff with my own eyes.

Does any of that make sense?

 

[enjoy the ride]

My very practical Mom used to deal with our squimishness with "It's just a little bit of extra protein." Of course her response to almost every question we ever had was "Because I said so.............."

 

[sufficientforme]

Like several others mentioned the ewwww factor would prevent me from eating it. I have not been able to eat any white fish ( I think it was cod) like I used to after my husband came home from a fishing trip and put the catch in the sink and the worms were crawling out of the fillets as I opened the packages.

 

[FarmerChick]

that was my mom's favorite saying also......"it is just a little extra protein...it won't hurt you!"

wow...memory flash on that one..HA HA

I still get the feeling it was a one pack problem.

but yes, if I think about what is in food, or I have eaten and not known....well, I don't want to think about it!!! LOL

 

[TanksHill]

Well there is one way to find out if it was one pack or the whole shebang. Leave one out on the counter for a week. See what happens. If you plan to use the rest I would just cook it thoroughly. I think it's kinda like the 5 second rule.... some do some don't.