Raw pigs edible?

[unther.p]

If ham and bacon both come from pigs, but i always cook bacon first before eating, while i slap ham on sandwich's raw. Isnt that just raw pig that we're eating?

[incitatus]

No. The curing methods are different. What happens when you turn pig into ham is that you cure it very thoroughly. Smoked ham (Jambon cru) is cured and smoked for a very long time, which kills off the bacteria. Common or garden ham such as the square pink stuff from the supermarket is boiled before being sliced (reead the label). The process for bacon or pancetta is not so long, so it doesnt guarantee a safe raw eat....That said people do eat raw bacn..

[rekstout]

Ham is not usually raw - it is cooked by roasting and/or boiling. There are some pork products which are cured rather then cooked. These are cured using salt and spices or smoke - either method destroys most bacteria by dehydrating it although it is not as safe to eat. Pork is a notoriously unclean meat, that's why many religions ban its consumption - it is almost never eaten raw and is extremely inadvisable.

[snotmonkey]

i'm sure that artist used to eat raw pork as it has hallucinogenic effects

[G.]

the reason some religions have baned the eating of pork isn't because it is "notoriously unclean" - it is because pork is particularly suseptible to a certain type of bacteria, (the name escapes me right now), just like chicken and salmonila (spelling?? ..). just like some religions ban the eating, it is customary to cook pork until there is no pink left. However, given hte advent of improved cooking and curing and overall better sanitation and care for butured meat, this isn't really necessary any longer ... - all that to say that pork isn't 'notoriously unclean', but just has a bad out of date rap .. as for the original question, all the ham you buy in the grocery store is 'cooked ham', and is quite different than a ham you would get straight from a farm or butcher. As a butcher, both the ham and bacon are cured, and if you were to buy a ham from the butcher, you would need to cook it before eating it, just like bacon.