Pork is the meat taken from pigs. While it is one of the most common meats consumed by Chinese, Thais, Vietnamese and Europeans, and to some extent North Americans, it is not considered kosher in Judaism or halal under Islamic law.

History of pork

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Pigs are one of the oldest forms of livestock, having been domesticated as early as 5000 BC ^*. It is believed to have been domesticated either in the Near East or in China from the Wild Boar. The adaptable nature and omnivorous diet of the Wild Boar allowed early humans to domesticate it much earlier than many other forms of livestock, such as cattle. Pigs were mostly used for food, but people also used their hide for shields, their bones for tools and weapons, and their bristles for brushes.

Pork consumption patterns

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Pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world: about 38 percent of daily meat protein intake worldwide is from pork.^* Despite religious restrictions on the consumption of pork and the prominence of red meat industries in the west (beef and lamb), pork is widely eaten throughout the world although pork consumption varies widely.

Pork consumption has been rising for thirty years, both in actual terms and in terms of meat-market share.

=Pork-consuming nations

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Food energy from pork per day per capita

		cal	kJ
1	Austria	352.8	1477
2	Switzerland	349.6	1464
3	Finland	343.2	1437
4	China	331.8	1389
5	France	301.6	1263
6	Spain	296.3	1241
7	Denmark	293.5	1229
8	Poland	267.7	1121
9	FR Yugoslavia	264.3	1107
10	Germany	247.1	1035
Source: FAOstat database *, data for 2002.

As Western cultures tend to eat more meat, the highest consumption records may disguise the significance of pork in a diet. The significance of pork requires a measure of proportion: for instance, the percentage of meat protein contributed by pork; or the percentage of dietary calories provided by pork. As an example, pork represents more than 70% of daily protein intake in Vietnam and Korea.

Pork cuts and products

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Pork may be cooked from fresh meat or cured over time. Cured meat products include ham and bacon. The carcass may be utilised in many different ways for fresh meat cuts, with the popularity of certain cuts and certain carcass proportions varying worldwide.

Fresh meat

Most of the carcass can be used to produce fresh meat and in the case of a sucking pig the whole body of a young pig ranging in age from two to six weeks is roasted.

Legs and shoulders, when used fresh, are usually cut bone-in for roasting, or leg steaks can be cut from the bone. These are also the most popular sources of hams.

The belly, although a fattier meat, can be used for steaks or diced stir fry meat. Belly pork may be rolled for roasting. The loin, the meat along the back of the pig, can be used for a wide variety of products including pork chops or loin roast. Bacon also comes from the loin.

Pork ribs are taken from the pigs' ribs and the meat surrounding the bones. Some cuisines use the head joint to make stock or soups.

Processed pork

Pork is particularly common as an ingredient of sausages. Many traditional European sausages are made with pork, including chorizo, fuet, and salami. Pork may also be used as a cheap ingredient in supermarket sausages.

Ham and bacon are made from fresh pork by curing with salt (pickling) and/or smoking. Shoulders and legs are most commonly cured in this manner for ham whereas streaky and round bacon usually comes from the loin, although it may also come from the side and belly. Ham and bacon are popular foods in the west, and their consumption has increased with industrialisation. Non-western cuisines also use preserved meat products. For example, salted preserved pork or red roasted pork is used in Chinese and Asian cuisine.

Use of the whole carcass

In order to utilise the whole carcass ("everything but the squeal"), parts of the pig such as knuckle, pig's feet ("trotters"), chitterlings (pork intestines), and hog jowls may be eaten. In earlier centuries in the United States some of these products figured prominently in the traditional diets of poor Southerners (see soul food). Scrapple and McRib are other examples of aggregate pork products.

Nutrition

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Because of its high myoglobin content, pork is red before cooking, although it becomes lighter as it is cooked. According to the USDA, pork is considered a red meat, because it contains more myoglobin than white meat such as fish and chicken.^* Pork is very high in thiamin.

Despite the traditional definition of pork as a red meat, in 1987 the National Pork Board in the US began an advertising campaign to position pork as "the other white meat" due to a public perception of chicken (white meat) as more healthy than red meat. The campaign was highly successful and resulted in 87% of consumers identifying pork with the slogan. As of 2005, the slogan is still used in marketing pork today, with some variations.^*

Audio

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• One hour radio broadcast on pork production that explores hog factories, antibiotics, manure and sustainable farms. Courtesy of the Deconstructing Dinner radio program - Kootenay Co-op Radio.

Pork

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