Day 61 – Pork in Swine Flu

My eldest asked what a swine was as he had heard about the Swine Flu. I explained what a swine was and he asked if it was okay to eat bacon or pork. I wasn’t sure so I did some research which led me to the U.S. Center for Disease Control which reports that H1N1 influenza viruses are not spread by food - you cannot get H1N1 influenza from eating pork or pork products, eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.

So I told this to my son and he asked if bacon (or pork) was on my diet. I told him that while pork has become very lean in recent years I have decided not to make it part of my diet. I stressed to him however that it was fine if he or his brother or mother ate pork, they would not get sick from it when made properly.

I’ve read a lot about pork and how it how it has changed over the years, there is a lot of info out there but when doing your own research be careful since many sources have their own agendas. My father was a pig farmer for the early part of his life and has some very interesting and funny stories about the animals – these have lead me to be interested if not respect them.

I don’t eat real bacon but have on occasion eaten turkey bacon – realizing after, that the modified kind is probably not very good for me.

Pork has become very lean today through improved breeding and feeding practices, a system that rewards pork producers for producing leaner meat and better trimming of fat that the processor level and in grocery stores. I wonder however how else pork has been modified to become leaner and I have discovered that while it is leaner, the protein content is not as potent as it was years earlier due to over breeding.

I’ll stick to fish, chicken and lean beef from here on out.

See you soon.