Although pork is the number one meat consumed in the world, U.S. consumption dropped during the 1970s, largely because pork’s high fat content caused health-conscious Americans to choose leaner meats. Today’s hogs have much less fat due to improved genetics, breeding and feeding. Read on for more information about this red meat.
What's Pork?
Pork is the meat from hogs, or domestic swine. The domestication of “pigs” (immature hogs) for food dates back to about 7000 B.C. in the Middle East. However, evidence shows that Stone Age man ate wild boar, the hog’s ancestor, and the earliest surviving pork recipe is Chinese, at least 2000 years old.
Hogs were brought to Florida by Hernando de Soto in 1525, and soon was America’s most popular meat. In the 19th century — as America urbanized and people began living away from the farm, “salt pork” — pork that is prepared with a high level of salt to preserve it — became the staple food. Pork has continued to be an important part of our diet since that time. Pork is generally produced from young animals (6 to 7 months old) that weigh
from 175 to 240 pounds. Much of a hog is cured and made into ham, bacon and sausage. Uncured meat is called “fresh pork.”
