The Death of Pork

Thus factory farmed sows have huge litters, which leads to intense competition for milk. Shortly after birth, the piglets’ teeth are clipped to prevent damage to the sows’ teats, and their tails are docked, because in adolescence the stress from close quarters leads to tail biting.

Then there is the smell of the plant, a staggering brew of ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. Wells described the odor: “We had walked into a wall of stench. It stopped us flat.”

The producers had achieved their goal of leaner pork.

But leanness brought other problems. The producers realized that their pork was dry. To address the problem, they turned to “enhanced pork” — injecting the meat with brine and sodium phosphate, at the same time adding weight in the form of water. Water helps the meat avoid “shrinking” in the package, but does nothing for it in the pan, nor in the mouth. The result in the meat case is pale, pinkish flesh, each cutlet a clone of nearly tasteless, perfectly proportioned symmetry.

Does taste matter? This is not a rhetorical question — some consider the absence of flavor to be a necessary sacrifice, “collateral damage” to a larger social or moral agenda. Tofu, for instance. Try as I may (and I’ve had it in every possible variation), I can’t find any flavor there. Is this the future of cuisine?

To be continued …

1 2 3 SHARE