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Most of us have been exposed to information cautioning us to be wary of pork, from religious traditions (particularly in Jewish and Muslim cultures) that proscribe its consumption to warnings that one can get really sick by ingesting parasites present in (undercooked) pork products. The disease trichinosis (or trichinellosis) can be caught through the consumption of raw or undercooked meat of animals infected with the larvae of the Trichinella worm, a parasite common to many wild carnivorous animals and sometimes found in game meat from bears, pigs/boars, large felines, foxes, dogs, wolves, horses, seals, and walruses. Because Trichinella infection may also occur in domestic pigs, consumers of pork have long been cautioned to cook the meat thoroughly to ensure that any parasites in the meat are killed off prior to their being ingested by humans. However, as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) note, the incidence of trichinosis associated with pork consumption is now much less common due to a number of factors: Moreover, the potential for trichinosis can be headed off through observing a few simple precautions in the preparation of pork, such as cooking the meat thoroughly (the CDC recommends a temperature of 170°F, although most sources state that temperatures in the 140-150°F range are sufficient to kill the Trichinella spiralis roundworm), or freezing pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5°F or lower. Separate legends involving pork and Coca-Cola have been combined into a sort of meta-legend, one which holds that pouring Coke over a piece of uncooked pork will cause worms to come crawling out of the meat: This newer legend plays off misconceptions of pigs as filthy, garbage-eating animals whose meat is ordinarily contaminated by disease-bearing worms and Coca-Cola as a drink chock full of caustic, bad-for-you substances that will dissolve flesh and bone. Thus, even the hardy, nasty worms supposedly found in pork can't withstand the onslaught of the corrosive chemicals allegedly present in Coke and will come crawling out of their comfy, edible homes to escape it. The less-than-fantastic reality is that pork products made from domestically-raised animals and sold on the consumer market are pretty reliably free of worms, and pouring Coca-Cola over a slab of raw pork won't get you much other than perhaps a nicelymarinated piece of meat. At great personal expense, we verified this conclusion by obtaining a pork chop from the local supermarket and marinating it in a can of Coca-Cola Classic, producing no discernable result other than a slightly soggy chop. (We didn't try frying it up afterwards to see how the Coke affected its taste): However, when we tried the same experiment with a can of cheap, store-brand cola, the results were somewhat ambiguous: Sightings: In February 2007 a spoof video based on this legend made the rounds of the Internet:
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