No Lechon is Better Than Bad Lechon

Lechon may look fresh but it's really bad | Credits to: DVMF

It's May and Fiesta Months are here too. Fiesta tends to have lechon in mind. I was thinking about the near-inescapable tradition of, "Must have lechon." A recent incident in Cebu City was reported by the Cebu Daily News with this frightening report:

In a report, the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) said two lechons weighing 15 kilos and 42 kilos were confiscated in Barangay Apas. The pigs used for the lechons were reportedly slaughtered in the cities of Talisay and Mandaue.

The third lechon, weighing 30 kilos, was found being sold in Barangay Lahug. Investigators found that the pig had been slaughtered in the mountain barangay of Bonbon in Cebu City.

The DVMF, in coordination with the Cebu City Police Office, conducted the “hot meat” operation on Sunday as part of the city government’s campaign against unregulated slaughtering and the sale of undocumented meat products that may pose public health risks.

This makes me think of the mentality, "Bad lechon is no better than no lechon." I heard that lechon prepared from botcha meat (double dead meat or can be confusingly called hot meat, but note the context) is that it's really spoiled meat. The reality is that having bad lechon than no lechon can result in this from Every Day Health, written by Siddhi Bianca Camila Lama, MS, PhD: 

Not all microbes found on spoiled meat are dangerous. However, if your meat is contaminated with pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria such as Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, or E. coli, you can become very sick from food poisoning, according to Mayo Clinic.

Most food poisoning is mild and doesn’t require treatment, but it can be life-threatening in some cases. Severe illness is most common in children, older adults, those who are pregnant, and people with weakened immune systems. Many people with conditions that cause immune deficiency don’t realize they have them, however, according to Yale Medicine and research.

Symptoms of foodborne illness may start within hours or days. They include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), and other gastrointestinal issues. Mayo Clinic notes that symptoms usually resolve within 48 hours with home treatment, such as fluid and electrolyte replacement. If it lasts longer than that, you may need to see a doctor.

Treatment for more severe cases depends on the cause of the food poisoning and might include intravenous fluids, as well as antibiotics or antiparasitic medication to kill microbes.

The bacteria that causes spoilage isn't guaranteed to make you sick, Cleveland Clinic notes, but spoilage is a good indicator that disease-causing bacteria are also present. Whether you'll get sick may also be determined by whether you fully cooked your food.

Many bacteria can be killed during the cooking process, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes. For instance, if you've made a boiled stew or soup and cooked your meat for a while, you may not get sick. But you need to use an internal meat thermometer to check that you’ve reached the proper temperature — 145 degrees Fahrenheit for red meat, 160 degrees Fahrenheit for ground meats and ground poultry, and 165 degrees Fahrenheit for all other poultry.

However, heat isn't a guaranteed way to prevent food poisoning, according to the Washington State Department of Health. This is because certain bacteria also release toxins that aren’t destroyed by heat. Even when you kill these bacteria by cooking them, the toxins will remain in the food and can cause you to become sick.

Always err on the side of caution when it comes to food safety.

Honeslty, is it really worth the risk to get a lechon just to avoid losing face, only to get into the possible risk of landing into the ICU, if ever, the foodborne illnesses were even worse because of a combination of several factors like:

1. The pig may have died from a contagious disease.
2. The pig may have been tortured, which releases stress hormones. 
3. The knives used to cut the lechon are probably just washed with stagnant water, not clean flowing water. The bacteria can expontentially increase overtime.
4. The roadside exposure means the chances of airborne bacteria and flies could've already made the lechon dangerous. 

Sure, that lechon was cheaper than usual. It's because it bypassed all the necessary middlemen. If it's too good to be true, don't take it. It might be cheaper but hospital bills can much bigger. Also, why have lechon for the sake of it when the lechon may not even taste good, to begin with? In fact, there are other better alternatives to lechon like roasted chicken if lechon is really beyond reach. 

Also for the sake of better health, stop treating lechon like a necessity and treat it only as a festivity, if you're a pork eater.