Are pork chops on the grilling menu this holiday weekend? New research from University of Illinois meat scientists finds that pork enthusiasts can improve taste, juiciness and tenderness by cooking chops to the new USDA standard: 145 degrees Fahrenheit. “Pork cooked to 145 degrees is absolutely safe,” says Dustin Boler, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at U of I. “And our results show that everyday consumers strongly prefer pork chops cooked to 145 over the old standard of 160 degrees.” (ACES Illinois)