Did i give myself food poisoning with undercooked sausage

Madpanda

Ok so I spent most of this weekend going through stomach flu/food poisoning and there are really only two suspects I can think of. The whole grain pasta I cooked and put into an air tight container, it was in the fridge for 2 days before I reheated it and the italian sausage that went with it but that was only served fresh.

Here is how I cooked the sausage and how i've always cooked it. First time i've spent a weekend uh detoxifying.

Chopped a 7 inch slice off the main piece, cut that into small slivers. In a pan with a small amount of cooking spray brown the sausage, add a bit of water and cover, turning and adding water as needed. Meanwhile I boiled the water and let the spaghetti cook, then taking the cover off to let the sausage brown some more, total time in the pan ~25 mins. Using a thermometer on several pieces showed them above 180f, which is actually over the safe limit.

bowen

Nah, the food spent way too much time being cooked for that to be the cause.

It was probably cross contamination (touched a surface that wasn't cleaned properly from chicken or something) or from something else you ate/drank.

CelestialBadger

Could have been a bug you picked up shaking hands. It's not always food.

Pinfeldorf

The far more dangerous threat from any pork products than food poisoning is tapeworms.

cabsy

Pinfeldorf wrote: »

The far more dangerous threat from any pork products than food poisoning is tapeworms.

... no? Not unless your pork sausage is made of wild game, and even then there's only been like 2 cases a year.

Djeet

Any sausage you can cut into "slivers" is already cooked, usually either cured or smoked. When I hear "italian sausage" I think raw pork ground up with spices and put into casings. If you try to slice these sausages you'll end up with shredded casing and a bunch of ground pork (looks like hamburger but a lot less pink). Also if you heated up the contents of that pan to 180F then nothing in it survived to make you sick. I'm thinking you got sick from something else.

Thundyrkatz

and it's Trichinosis, ring worm, not tape worm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

and again, only if its wild game, and super rare even then.

Magdar

It's possible, I've given myself the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had from undercooked italian sausage. I was sick for five straight hours, and by sick I mean what you think I mean. I couldn't even keep any water down. I was more or less okay the next day.

It could also be a coincidence and you just had a stomach bug.

tinwhiskers

If anything it was the sausage's vengeful spirit attacking you for over cooking the hell out of it that made you sick.

EggyToast

You didn't get sick from undercooking it, because you didn't undercook it.

WiseManTobes

One thing people always overlook in food poisoning situations is the sauces used, I got it really bad from a fish dinner once, as did everyone else at my table, but we had all ordered different things. Turned out it was the Tartar sauce. Cream sauces especially can turn quick, did you use any like, mayo, salad dressings, etc in those 2 meals?

knitdan

Sometimes the grease and spice combination of Italian sausage is enough to cause a bit of a laxative effect on me, but it is not usually accompanied by nausea.

I would lean toward possible cross-contamination or another source you may have overlooked.

Abdhyius

Most stomach flu/food poisoning is not actually food poisoning.

Fecal bacteria is the most common culprit. Doesn't have to come from the food at all. Dirt and soil making its way down your gullet somehow.

Small kids, buckets of disease that they are, maybe.

Jam Warrior

Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong with your cooking.

Sometimes (in this case, quite literally) shit happens.

admanb

Djeet wrote: »

Any sausage you can cut into "slivers" is already cooked, usually either cured or smoked. When I hear "italian sausage" I think raw pork ground up with spices and put into casings. If you try to slice these sausages you'll end up with shredded casing and a bunch of ground pork (looks like hamburger but a lot less pink). Also if you heated up the contents of that pan to 180F then nothing in it survived to make you sick. I'm thinking you got sick from something else.

You can definitely slice raw sausage with the right knife.

bowen

Not into slivers, though. Maybe a half inch slice if you're lucky.

Djeet

Maybe if you got it real cold? I cook Italian sausage and a thinner version marketed as "breakfast sausage" often. We're talking about this right? It's about as easy to slice as raw hamburger patties. Edit: Also many sausages sold are already pre-cooked, smoked or cured, meaning they aren't "raw".

bowen

Yeah, I usually slice those up into 1-2 inch chunks with a chef's knife no problem.

Anything smaller and yeah, you get basically porkburger.

Jam Warrior

He cooked the thing for 25 minutes. Raw or not to begin with, it'll be fine after that.

Most food poisoning contamination comes from something that came into contact with the food after it was cooked.

From the OP as presented that makes the most likely suspect outside of random bad luck, the thermometer. What did it measure the temperature of last? How well was it cleaned afterwards?

Djeet

bowen wrote: »

Yeah, I usually slice those up into 1-2 inch chunks with a chef's knife no problem.

Anything smaller and yeah, you get basically porkburger.

If you blanch them for a couple minutes (partially cooking the outside) you could probably cut it into thinner discs, if you wanted that.

Madpanda

Djeet wrote: »

Any sausage you can cut into "slivers" is already cooked, usually either cured or smoked. When I hear "italian sausage" I think raw pork ground up with spices and put into casings. If you try to slice these sausages you'll end up with shredded casing and a bunch of ground pork (looks like hamburger but a lot less pink). Also if you heated up the contents of that pan to 180F then nothing in it survived to make you sick. I'm thinking you got sick from something else.

That is what they looked like, nothing like perfect slivers but that was the best way I could think of to describe the size i was going for.

The thermometer was used to check some veggie burgers and before that chicken in a crock pot , i clean the hell out of it between uses.

Sauce came from a jar and just contained vegetables. No cream base.

Could have just been bad luck.

CelestialBadger

If you are so cautious you use a thermometer on veggie burgers there is no way you could have given yourself food poisoning. Food poisoning can take several days to develop so it could have been something from the day before or the day before that.

azith28

Was that the only thing you ate? did you add anything to the food after it was cooked? eat any cheeses? The last time I had food poisoning i had eaten at a resturaunt i had not eaten at before and the only thing i can think of that i ate that was out of the ordinary taste wise was some kind of gouda cheese.