Calories in Pork loin

What makes pork loin so powerful?

For much of the 20th century, American cooks were instructed to cook pork to an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C) or even 170°F (77°C) to eliminate the risk of Trichinella spiralis, a parasitic roundworm. This rigid guideline was highly effective at eradicating the parasite, but it devastated the culinary quality of pork loin. Because the loin is a muscle that runs along the back and gets little exercise, it contains very little intramuscular fat and collagen. Cooking it past 145°F (62.8°C) causes the muscle fibers to rapidly contract and squeeze out their moisture, resulting in a dry, tough texture. In 2011, the USDA revised its safe cooking temperature for whole cuts of pork down to 145°F (62.8°C), followed by a three-minute rest. This change aligned pork with beef and lamb safety standards. It was made possible because modern commercial farming practices had virtually eliminated Trichinella from the US pork supply, with fewer than a dozen cases reported annually, mostly from wild game. Today, cooking pork loin to this lower temperature allows the proteins to denature gently, preserving the meat's natural juiciness while remaining perfectly safe to eat.