The evolution of pork quality

摘要

Statistics reveal that pork is the most widely consumed animal protein in the world. A review of scientific literature supports the international focus on research on a wide variety of pork production and processing topics. Pork's versatility as fresh or processed cuts, and its use as a center-of-the-plate feature or as a key ingredient in so many products for the retail and foodservice channels highlights its importance in feeding the world. Today's pork is much different than yesteryear's version. Older textbooks show photos of the "lard-type" hogs that were the mainstay of production through the middle of the 20th century. The next generation of hogs were termed "lean-type" to show the move to modern pork production. Today's hogs are as lean as ever with the additional feature of being much larger and heavier than in the past.