{"id":40339,"date":"2025-10-11T18:17:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T22:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=40339"},"modified":"2025-10-11T18:17:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T22:17:51","slug":"how-do-you-spell-trichinosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=40339","title":{"rendered":"How do you spell trichinosis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Trichinosis.”<\/p>\n

That’s what popped up in neon brain lights when, in 2019, I first read about Trump’s plan to deregulate the pork industry. Trichinosis, and then I Googled “is there a vaccine for trichinosis?” and no, there isn’t.<\/p>\n

I don’t use Google anymore but here’s what Trump’s current US Department of Agriculture is doing with inspections of meat-processing plants. (Pork is a meat.)\u00a0<\/a>Scroll down past the alarmist RED<\/span> warning that starts that link (the Democrats are to blame for everything!)<\/p>\n

My Perplexity question re pork plants’ inspection is indeed answered. And, yes, they’ll be “improving the efficiency” of inspections by dumping the responsibility onto the workers who process the pork. Not, you’ll note, the plant supervisors, or the plant owners. Oh no, onto the workers, a high percentage of whom are immigrants.<\/p>\n

Here are those facts from Perplexity:<\/p>\n

The percentage of immigrant workers in U.S. meat processing plants is around 56.1% in meatpacking specifically, according to a detailed demographic breakdown. This is notably higher than the average for all U.S. workers or other industries. The poultry processing sector has a lower foreign-born worker share at about 28.1% compared to meatpacking. Furthermore, estimates suggest that undocumented workers make up between 23% to as much as 30-50% of the meatpacking workforce, reflecting the significant reliance on immigrant labor in this sector.<\/em><\/p>\n

That is now. What about back then — in 2019 — when I first wrote this warning? Read on.<\/p>\n

On April 4, 2019,\u00a0Paul Krugman took on the pork plan, and Trump’s claim that wind turbines cause cancer. So much prescience here:<\/a><\/p>\n

But one thing seems sure: Even if he\u2019s a one-term president, Trump will have caused, directly or indirectly, the premature deaths of a large number of Americans.<\/em><\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

But the biggest death toll is likely to come from Trump\u2019s agenda of deregulation \u2014 or maybe we should call it \u201cderegulation,\u201d because his administration is curiously selective about which industries it wants to leave alone.<\/em><\/p>\n

Consider two recent events that help capture the deadly strangeness of what\u2019s going on.<\/em><\/p>\n

One is the administration\u2019s plan for hog plants<\/a> to take over much of the federal responsibility for food safety inspections. And why not? It\u2019s not as if we\u2019ve seen safety problems arise from self-regulation in, say, the aircraft industry<\/a>, have we? Or as if we ever experience major outbreaks of food-borne illness<\/a>? Or as if there was a reason the U.S. government stepped in to regulate meatpacking<\/a> in the first place?<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking about my mother, who — despite her atheistic approach to the laws of kashrut — would never make fresh pork for us, because of her fear of trichinosis.<\/p>\n

It sounded dire. Indeed, the first time I tasted fresh pork was my first night at college. Pork chops. And I thought, “wow, this stuff is terrific!” I’ve been making pork ever since.<\/p>\n

But if pork farmers are going down into the self-regulation trough, I’ll have to reincarnate my mom’s anti-pork stance.<\/p>\n

Trichinosis:<\/a><\/p>\n

Initial signs and symptoms<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

You swallow trichinella larvae encased in a cyst. Your digestive juices dissolve the cyst, releasing the parasite into your body. The larvae then penetrate the wall of the small intestine, where they mature into adult worms and mate. At this stage, you may experience:<\/em><\/p>\n