Pork Gets Leaner

When pork started shedding its negative image in the 1980s as an unhealthy, fatty food, it gained a reputation for being a nutritious, lean protein powerhouse. Consider that today’s pork is 31 percent lower in fat than it was 20 years ago.

“Producers’ commitment to producing a safe, healthy product has maintained our customers’ confidence in the quality and wholesomeness of pork,” said Dr. Paul Sundberg, vice president of science and technology for the Pork Checkoff.

This 20-year extreme makeover, guided by the Pork Checkoff, is now focused on enhancing pork consumers’ eating satisfaction.  To understand where this is headed, it helps to look back at two decades of pork quality progress.

Symbol Defines Ideal Pig 

Pork’s transformation from fat to fit started in the early 1980s when producers brainstormed what the ideal pig would look like.  This “symbol of perfection” was defined in1983, when the Symbol I market barrow was described using three on-farm performance traits and three carcass measurement traits.

With the next evolution in 1996, Symbol II differentiated between barrow and gilt performance.  Symbol II was described using 17 parameters including production characteristics, genetic traits, performance traits, carcass measurements and carcass composition traits. Symbol II also came with the recommendation that hogs be raised by producers certified in Pork Quality Assurance™ (PQA) Level III.

By 2005, the U.S. pork industry unveiled its “Standard of Excellence” for the modern market hog, Symbol III, at the World Pork Expo. By including meat quality characteristics in addition to the previous parameters, Symbol III epitomized the pig that’s expected to produce the best quality, safest pork while providing optimum human nutrition.

Symbol III  incorporates PQA, Trucker Quality AssuranceSM (TQA) and production methods that follow proper animal care and well-being practices.  Also, Symbol III allows all stakeholders in the pork chain to profit both in domestic and international markets.

“Clearly the standards have changed in the last two decades, and the pork industry has gone from producing market hogs to producing pork in a sustainable manner,” said Mark Boggess, director of animal science for the Pork Checkoff.

Pork Quality Continues to Improve

The Symbol system, combined with 20 years of research initiatives and bold advertising campaigns including Pork. The Other White Meat®, have created the dramatic gains in the quality and quantity of pork that consumers eat today.  The good news is that pork quality continues to improve.

Consider the decrease in PSE (pale, soft and exudative) pork.

“In 2005 we surveyed packers who process 82 percent of the hogs marketed in the United STastes annually and found that the incidence of PSE pork is much lower than it was years ago.  This demonstrates that the improvements made in pork quality over the past several years,” Boggess said.

In fact, a 2005 Checkoff-funded survey found that the incidence of pork with classical PSE was only 3.3 percent, a dramatic improvement on the levels of PSE found in the industry 10 years ago.  PSE pork, which becomes tough and dry when cooked, is considered unsuitable for most pork products.

“Inferior pork can cost the industry millions of dollars due to decreased consumer demand and lower value,” Boggess said. 

“The good news is that producers and the industry are moving in the right direction,” he added.  “Consistently improving levels of pork quality and a new emphasis on eating quality and tenderness all point to better pork in the future, which means more demand and additional value for the industry.” 

Going to the Next Level

“Now it’s time to focus on providing a more consistent level of pork quality,” Bog-gess added.  “Pork quality encompasses many different areas, including the study of muscle, care and handling, breeding and selection, health and nutrition.  But all that work is for naught if the pork is not handled properly at each step, including after harvest with appropriate cooking times and end-point temperatures.”

That’s why the Pork Checkoff is funding pork marbling research and an eating satisfaction study in 2006.  Consumers will sample boneless pork chops and provide their feedback, while researchers will study the pork’s pH, color, tenderness and marbling.  Cooking temperatures also will play a key role in the research.

“The pork industry can provide a superior product, but it will be ruined if it’s overcooked,” Boggess said.

While current government guidelines call for pork to be cooked to 160oF, the new Checkoff-funded research will be designed to determine if pork can be safely cooked at lower temperatures.

This research is one more way that the industry is better understanding pork quality, Sundberg concluded. “Pork producers’ support remains the driving engine behind pork quality.