Pork

Consumption patterns

Pigs are the second most commonly eaten animal worldwide, supplying roughly 34% of all meat. This popularity has led to countless pork dishes across cultures. Spain is known for jamón, a dry-cured ham from the pig's hind legs, while Brazil's national dish, feijoada (also eaten in Portugal), traditionally uses pork trimmings like ears, tail, and feet. In 2006, global pork consumption neared 100 million metric tons, climbing to 109.905 million by 2015.

By 2017, China accounted for half of all pork eaten worldwide. Rising urban incomes have fueled China's appetite: consumption there was 20% higher in 2006 than in 2002, with a projected 5% increase for 2007. In 2012, China was expected to consume 53 million metric tons, over half the global total. Pork is favored over beef in China for practical and sensory reasons.

Pigs are easy to raise and not used for labor, and the meat's color and fat are seen as more appealing, with a sweeter, cleaner taste and smell. It is also thought to be easier to digest. In rural areas, pork is shared during celebrations and to strengthen social bonds.

China even maintains a strategic pork reserve. Among the country's famous pork dishes is red braised pork (hong shao rou) from Hunan, a favorite of Mao Zedong, along with sweet and sour pork, bakkwa, and charsiu. In the Philippines, 300 years of Spanish influence made lechon—a whole roasted suckling pig—a national delicacy. Pork is also widely enjoyed across eastern Asia and the Pacific, where whole roast pig features prominently in island cuisine.

Pork products

Pork can be eaten fresh or preserved through curing, which gives us products like ham and bacon. The pig’s body provides many different fresh cuts, and which cuts are most popular changes from place to place. Almost the whole animal can be used for fresh meat; a suckling pig, which is a young pig between two and six weeks old, is roasted whole. In Denmark, a national Christmas dish is flæskesteg, roast pork with crispy crackling.

Pork is a very common ingredient in sausages. Many classic European sausages, such as chorizo, fuet, Cumberland sausage, and salami, are made from pork. Most American hot dogs and breakfast sausages also contain pork.

In France, turning pork into sausages and other products is called charcuterie. Ham and bacon start as fresh pork that is cured with salt, sometimes through pickling, or smoked. The shoulder and leg cuts are often cured this way to make picnic shoulder and ham, while bacon from the side comes in two forms: round bacon from the loin and streaky bacon from the belly. Ham and bacon are widely eaten in Western countries, and their popularity grew with industrialization.

Preserved pork is also used in non-Western cooking; for instance, Chinese and other Asian cuisines use salted preserved pork or red roasted pork. Bacon refers to certain cuts from the sides, belly, or back that have been cured or smoked. In continental Europe, bacon is often cut into small cubes called lardons and used in cooking for its fat and flavor.

In Italy, pancetta (bacon) can be served raw and thinly sliced as part of an antipasto. Bacon is also used to bard roasts, especially game birds, to keep them moist. It is frequently smoked with different types of wood for up to ten hours. People eat bacon fried, baked, or grilled.

Religious beliefs

Pork is not eaten under Jewish and Islamic dietary laws, and it is also avoided by mainstream Seventh-day Adventists, Rastafarians, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. A theory exists that pork was taboo in Scotland until around 1800. The prohibition in Judaism comes from Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, which say that animals with split hooves that chew cud are acceptable to eat. The pig has split hooves but does not chew cud, so it is considered impure.

Jews may not eat an animal that has only one of these two traits. Hogs are not ruminants and do not chew cud like cattle or sheep. Practicing Jews accept the biblical explanation that the pig is unclean, and Maimonides also classified the pig as unclean in both its habits and diet. Scholar Douglas argued that the pig was prohibited in ancient Israel because it was raised by non-Israelites, ate carrion, and did not fit the classification of ungulates.

Scholar Harris disagreed, noting that Egyptians and Sumerians also restricted pigs and that goats ate corpses without being declared unclean. Harris instead offered an explanation based on environmental and economic factors. In modern Israel, pig-raising is legally limited to certain areas and institutions, though some laws are openly bypassed.

Swine production grew from about 50,000 pigs slaughtered annually in 1960 to 180,000 in 2010. Per capita pork consumption was 2.7 kilograms in 2009. While pork sales are banned in some religious areas, pork products are available at non-kosher butchers and through the Mizra and Tiv Ta'am supermarket chains, which cater to Russian immigrants. A modern Hebrew euphemism for pork is “white meat.”

Disease in pork

Eating raw or undercooked pork comes with real risks, as the meat can carry diseases like pork tapeworm, trichinosis, and pigbel. Despite this, some Central and Eastern European countries still consume raw pork products, with Eastern European nations thought to face a higher chance of trichinosis. Undercooked or untreated pork may contain harmful pathogens, and even fully cooked pork can become contaminated again if left out too long.

For example, the Food Safety and Inspection Service once found Listeria monocytogenes in 460 pounds of Polidori brand fully cooked pork sausage crumbles, though no one got sick. The FSIS says that listeria and other germs must be killed through proper handling and cooking to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and that E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus can also turn up in undercooked pork, poultry, and other meats. Their current advice is to cook ground pork to 160 degrees Fahrenheit and whole cuts to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by a three-minute rest.

Pigs can carry various worms, including roundworms, pinworms, and hookworms. One common one is Taenia solium, a tapeworm that can move into a person's intestines after they eat undercooked meat. Raw or undercooked pork can also cause toxoplasmosis. Another illness, Yersinia enterocolitica, leads to gastroenteritis and is most often linked to eating uncooked or undercooked pork.

This bacteria can even grow in refrigerated conditions, but heat kills it. Nearly all U.S. outbreaks of this infection have been traced back to pork. Additionally, pork may be the main source for sporadic, locally acquired cases of acute hepatitis E in areas with mild climates, and the virus has been shown to pass between pigs and humans.

Did You Know?

• Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 13,000 BC.
• In 15th-century France, local guilds regulated tradesmen in food production; the guild that produced charcuterie was that of the charcutiers.
• Pork is a form of red meat and is a good source of protein, iron, zinc, and vitamins B1, B2, B6, and B12.