Pork is one of the most sought out protein sources by the majority of people around the world. Compared to the other type of meats (except for chickens), porks are probably the most eaten meat globally evidenced by its high consumption per capita (in kilograms) for some of the countries located in North America, South America and Oceania. In Malaysia, the amount of pork eaten per capita is generally higher (an average of 7.65 kg per capita between 2007 to 2016) than the other dairy animals such as beef (an average of 6.01 kg per capita between 2007 to 2016) and mutton (an average of 0.9 kg per capita between 2007 to 2016); well, except for chickens and ducks (an average of 44.70 kg per capita between 2007 to 2016) which is still the most preferred source of proteins for meals in Malaysia which can be due to its availability, prices and religious beliefs (Source). On the global scale, a statistic made by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service has found that in 2017, pork meat constitute the majority of the meat consumed by the world population (40.4%) compared to chicken (32.4%) and beef (21.8%); the rest of the figure is mutton(Source).
In some cultures which are influenced heavily by religious beliefs, eating porks can be considered as a taboo. It is generally understood by people, especially those who were living in Islamic countries, that asking for porks when you decide to dine in a restaurant owns by a Muslim is like asking them to chase you out. Some people can tolerate that kind of behaviour but most of them can't, believe me, especially those religious nuts. There are a lot of alleged speculations and documentation regarding why you shouldn't eat pork compared to the other source of proteins. Most of the studies conducted to investigate the effect of eating pork have linked it with parasitic infestation and an increased risk of getting diabetes mellitus type II. Now, in this article, we will explore some of the factors you should consider before deciding to start or continue eating pork as part of your diet. Some of them are alleged but whether to take it as facts or not will depend entirely up to you. Since pork is frequently consumed by the world population, the most important factors that people should take into their consideration are health hazards; how porks could sustain or kill you.
Living In The Crud, Not Mud
Sweating is probably one of the most important mechanisms to maintain an ideal body temperature. People who can't sweat would end up dying from overheating, and I think you would know this from the movie entitled "Rurouni Kenshin" whereby its main antagonist can't sweat due to third (probably fourth) degree burn; spoiler alert, he ends up dead from extreme overheating which caused him to burst into flame (don't take that as something that would happen to pigs or anyone). The evaporation process of sweat requires a certain amount of energy which is taken from the body heat; cooling it off and at the same time, expelling toxins. Even though some articles on the internet claimed that pigs don't have any sweat gland, it sounds like an exaggeration. They do have sweat gland but it is only a few compared to its relatively huge size; fat like a pig, right? Therefore the primary function for its sweat glands is not for the sake of controlling its body temperature rather than expelling a small number of toxins.
The only way for them to reduce their ever-increasing body temperature is to make themselves comfortable, playing and rolling in mud which is speculated to provide the same physiological effect to sweating; in other words, when you see some pigs wallow in the mud, they are actually "sweating". Sweat glands are helpful but not essential for animals to keep on living; one can find other ways to control their own body temperature (soaking in the cold water for example). If we want to consider pigs which are living in the wild, they are actually quite clean. They prefer clean mud area to wallow themselves in compared to a stagnant water or crud. In the factory setting, however, they often wallow among their own faecal excrement or vomitus of other pigs to cool themselves down. To put it into perspective, let say, a standard farm or factory contain approximately 5000 pigs. They would be able to produce excrement which is equivalent to 50,000 people who were living in the city and most of them were excreted in the area in which they usually wallow.
It is not a comfortable situation if you ask me. Some of the pigs are infected by a skin disease which is usually caused by parasitic mites due to this poor living condition. It's an extremely itching skin disease and imagine if you were having it for the rest of your life. So if people were to say they don't eat pork because most of them are dirty, I agree. They were but certainly not all of them. The only catch is, pigs which are raised organically are pretty expensive like the Kurobuta, black pigs which are raised in the less stressful environment with a specialised diet. They are the "wagyu" of the pigs.
A Home For A Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria
I admit pigs are not the only dairy farm animal which is affected by drug (or multidrug) resistance bacteria such as Escherichia coli. In my previous article, I did write the effect of excessive antibiotic treatment to prevent diseases or to accelerate animals growth which could have made dormant bacteria in them to mutate into resistance species thus causing diseases in humans which are difficult to treat with a normal broad spectrum antibiotic. Nevertheless, whether it occurs in cows, goats or pigs, it just gives you some idea to be extra careful with what you eat, if you want to live long and healthy. Antibiotic-resistance bacteria will always be the threat to longevity as it increases the mortality rate among people. According to a study conducted by Tadesse DA et al, one of the most frequent indicators used to determine the occurrences of bacterial resistance in dairy farm animals is Escherichia coli (Source). It has been an important aspect of monitoring processes in Europe to ensure that any factory or farm which are designed to raise this kind of animal obliged with the accepted parameter of antibiotic usage.
In a study conducted by Julia Österberg et al in 2016 to investigate the occurrences of antibiotic-resistance bacteria among pigs which are either being raised organically or in factory settings in four European countries (Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden) has found that, pigs which are bound to factories are more likely to develop different types of Escherichia coli which are resistant to either Ampicillin, Tetracycline, Trimethoprim, Sulphonamide or Streptomycin; the bacteria can be resistant to one or more antibiotics at one time. Since the majority of people eat a factory/farm-raised pigs, they are in the danger of getting invaded by some strains of resistant bacteria. Some of the pigs are found to house bacteria which are resistant to chloramphenicol which has been banned in Europe. It can be due to the fact that the drug is still illegally used or it can be due to co-selective mutations. We know, for a bacterium to be resistant, a direct exposure with a specific antibiotic is required which will allow them to mutate. In co-selection, the bacterium will be resistant to a specific substance being used to make that particular antibiotic.
Since it is inevitable for someone who loves to eat pork and has no money to spend on an organic pork, it will be difficult to ensure that meats being sold on the market are not laden with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Some of the ways possible are to strictly monitor the antibiotic being used by factories or farms or you can spend some money and go organic.
Parasitic Infestation
One of the advice being given before eating pork or any other related meats like beef or mutton is to ensure that the meat is properly cooked. Even though in most of the cases, it can kill whatever things creeping inside the meat of your delicious treat, some parasites would be able to overcome the heat and live through the consumption. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even though there are a lot of measures which have been taken to curb the danger of pigs being infected with parasites such Trichinella sp., they can still become infected if they have some form of direct or indirect contact with infected rodents. Although Trichinellosis is one of the most concerned infestations caused by pigs, the incidence of the disease has reduced dramatically over the past 20 years due to the successful control program. However, the infestation can hardly be eradicated as there are some sporadic cases which have arisen throughout the years. Some of them occur among organic pigs which are raised in a huge, less stressful environment which will allow all of the pigs to wander around. Direct contact with an infected rodent is a primary concern now and whether or not the incidence has been reduced, it doesn't change the fact that, there is a tiny possibility that you will be the victim.
In some of the low-income countries, pig keeping is an essential source of income. Unlike any other dairy farm animals, pigs are easy to keep, have high reproductive rates and grow up fast. Among all of the farmers who seek to make a quick cash, not all of them will have the financial benefits or willing to spend their money on extra measures. The cost of proper foods to prevent infestation can be as high as 80% of the overall expenditure making it one of the factors which are usually contemplated by fellow farmers. Preparing your own food might be the most useful trick to avoid being infected by worms alike. Buying food from establishments are not that bad, but we wouldn't know, what kind of measure that had been taken to reduce certain complications especially when it involved our own health. The thing is, trichinosis is not just like a normal food poisoning. It's usually accompanied by a variety of serious complications such as conjunctivitis, photophobia, periorbital oedema (swelling around the eyelid), muscle pain and weakness etc. If you decide you still want to eat them, you need to take extra measure in preparing them before it can be eaten. CDC recommends freezing the porks before being cooked thoroughly; this is to ensure, with utmost certainty that whatever worms contained in the meat have been killed off.
A Pool of Toxic Stuff
It is convenient to keep pigs in a factory setting rather than keeping them in an open world with an utmost possibility. In fact, approximately 90% of all of the pigs being sold in the United States are raised in a crowded warehouse, denying them the fresh air and the opportunity to exercise their flaccid muscles. They are fed with foods which are designed to make them big and fat in the shortest period of time to maximise income. Unlike any other dairy farm animals, pigs took a relatively shorter time to digest their own foods (4 hours give or take); cows, for example, would take between 18 to 24 hours, digesting and excreting toxins from the foods which they were consuming. Although pigs digestive system resemble human's digestive system, it operates rather basic functions. Couple this with the fact that they owned an almost dysfunctional sweat gland, toxins which are usually eliminated will be retained in pigs' adipose tissue. Although the number of toxins retained might not be detrimental to humans' health, but still, there is lack of study which actually measures the amount of damage which can be caused by the toxin if humans were to consume them chronically. This fact is, however, alleged, I can't seem to find adequate evidence to say it is, so if you found any contradictory or supporting paper relating to it, you can drop it in the comment section below.
Conclusion
Eating is difficult. Surely, we will always find a reason not to do stuff, so to enforce whatever routine you want to undergo will requires mental power and discipline. I don't eat pork, if you were wondering, due to religious beliefs and what I believe I know about eating porks. However, if you are someone who enjoys eating porks, I don't want to enforce my principle on you. You are free to do so but the only thing I ask is for you to consider it properly, if not, find other ways which can minimise any scientifically-proven disadvantage of eating porks. To be honest, in some aspects, the disadvantage of eating porks seems to overlap with the disadvantage of eating other dairy farm products, so everyone should consider preparing their own food to ensure they are properly cooked and prepared. The last thing we want is to be infested by worms or having a hard time dealing with some symptoms of food poisoning. Be smart!
References And Further Reading Materials
- Why You Should Avoid Pork. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Do Pigs Sweat?. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Malaysia Pork Consumption Statistic (2007 - 2016). Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- World Per Capita Pork Consumption. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Top 10 Reasons Not to Eat Pigs. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Parasites - Trichinellosis (also known as Trichinosis). Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Kurobuta: The High-End Pork That Looks And Tastes Like No Other Pork.. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli from Pigs in Organic and Conventional Farming in Four European Countries. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Swine Trichinella Infection and Geographic Information System Tools. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
- Prevalence and risk factors for gastrointestinal parasites in small-scale pig enterprises in Central and Eastern Uganda. Retrieved on July 13th, 2018.
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