Pork is an excellent meat product to add to your diet. Fresh pork these days is much leaner than it was several years ago. Canadian Pork Council (CPC) reports that pork loin center cut is leaner by 43% than in 1987. Furthermore, CPC states that all raw fresh pork cuts, except for spare ribs, can be labeled as “lean meat” when all visible fat is cut away, as it contains less than 10% of fat in relation to the total size of a serving.

When purchasing pork, look for a pale and pinkish meat with small amounts of fat. The darker colour of meat, indicates older animal or that the meat has been too long on the supermarket shelf.

How to tell when pork is ready to eat? The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recommends that pork is ready for safe consumption when it reaches internal temperature of 71°C or 160°F. CFIA is the Government of Canada's key science-based regulator agency for food safety and it works in Partnership with Health Canada. Cooking to this temperature is sufficient in preventing trichinellosis infection, also known as trichinosis, and the good news is that the taste is not tampered as all meat will still be juicy and tender. However, if you do over cook your pork, it will become dry and tough as the meat is fairly lean. The only exception is with cooking sausages, as they inherently are more fatty.