Chinese pigs contaminated with clenbuterol
Most of us think of pigs as being fat; indeed, in our culture the word “pig” is synonymous with overeating and overweight. However, in recent years leanness has become a prized porcine property.
For about fifteen years, the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, has been marketing lean pork as a healthier alternative. Indeed, the pork industry in general is marketing pork to compete with chicken as a lean white meat. But the methods used to make pork lean should give consumers pause.
In China, feeding pigs chemicals is an ongoing scandal, with nearly 9,000 cases of additive abuse detected this year alone, according to a report from the National People’s Congress Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee picked up by thePigSite.com. More than 80 people in Guangdong province were stricken with stomach aches and diarrhea last February after consuming pig organs contaminated with Clenbuterol, an illegal pig feed additive that not only is harmful to humans, but can be fatal, since it accumulates in organs such as the liver and lungs. Clenbuterol, of course, keeps the animals lean.
In Shanghai in 2006, 336 people were hospitalized after eating pig meat and organs contaminated with the additive.
According to 2007 statistics from the China Meat Association, pork accounts for about 65 per cent of the meat consumed in China. Per capita consumption has doubled in 16 years, starting from 1990. And leaner pork commands a higher price, though pork in general has declined in price since the H1N1 “swine flu” epidemic began. According to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the price of pork in July was down 28.3 per cent year over year. Similar price reductions have been reported elsewhere, including the United States. Lynne Hoot, Maryland Pork Producers Council executive director, has said that since swine flu became the popular name for the H1N1 influenza virus, sales of pork to Americans have fallen.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the six leanest cuts of pork are 16 percent leaner and 27 percent lower in saturated fat than they were 15 years ago.
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