Imported pork has a strange smell. Is it really because foreign countries kill pigs without bleeding？
The original Wei Yiyi three cooks
Recently, the pork stocks in hand have gone up a lot, but they are both happy and worrying.
Last year, when the price of pork was the highest, I ate a lot of cheap imported pork.
For imported pork, many people in Chinese still have bad feelings.
In addition to the epidemic factors, frozen meat makes people feel stale.
Of course, the most important thing is that many people think that imported pork has a peculiar smell. Some people say it is smelly, while others say it is coquettish.
The reason is that there is a saying that it is caused by killing pigs abroad without bleeding. Is this true?
01
In fact, all the serious pigs in the world are bleeding.
There is a long-standing saying that when pigs are killed abroad, they are electrocuted or suffocated with carbon dioxide, and then they are decomposed and cut without bloodletting, so pork has an odor.
And many of Chinese’s impressions of killing pigs are probably still indigenous methods: forcing pigs into a corner in a pigsty, tying up four hooves on their backs, and the pig butcher sealing his throat with a knife, bleeding all over the sky …
I have to say, both of these statements or impressions have some imaginary elements.
It is not impossible to kill pigs by indigenous methods, but the scene is too bloody and inefficient.
Killing pigs in slaughterhouses in China is actually similar to that in foreign countries. Electric shock or suffocation causes pigs to lose consciousness and then slaughter them.
Moreover, no matter in China or abroad, the slaughtered animals will bleed, so there is no problem of bloodletting.
If you don’t bleed after slaughter, the meat will rot more easily, and blood stasis will form on the surface, which will affect the beauty of the meat.
And what we usually eat, whether it is hot fresh meat or cold and sour meat, is spared blood.
Especially the meat with acid discharge, should be kept at 0℃-4℃ for 12-24 hours after slaughter.
On the one hand, it drained the blood and body fluids, on the other hand, the low temperature also inhibited the growth of bacteria, and the protein in the meat also changed, making the meat more tender.
Imported frozen meat is basically pre-acidified. However, the taste and flavor of frozen meat will indeed decline.
But if you say that smell, it’s really not because you didn’t bleed.
02
What is the real source of pork odor?
The unpleasant taste of pork is actually a kind of smell called Boartant.
The literal meaning is obvious. Some pork is stinky or coquettish, and its main source is boar pork.
Because boars contain high concentrations of androstenone and dung odor.
Androstenone is a male hormone and smells like urine. When boars grow up, the content of androstenone in their bodies will be very high, and even the saliva will smell of androstenone. There is no androstenone in sows, but the content is much lower.
Fecal odor is a substance that smells like poop. Generally speaking, the intestines of mammals contain fecal odor, and pigs are no exception. Pig dung odor is mainly produced in the large intestine, so you should pay attention to it when cooking well.
A part of the fecal odor will be excreted casually, and the other part will be absorbed into the body by the intestine and then decomposed by the liver.
However, there is an ultra-high concentration of steroids in boars, which will prevent the liver from decomposing fecal odor, so the undecomposed fecal odor will gather in boars’ fat and produce an odor.
However, most of the domestic pork we buy does not have this odor. Why do some imported pork have it? Is it unscientific to eat all sows in China?
In fact, both pork farmers and manufacturers want to try their best to remove the odor of boars. After all, no one will like it.
The most traditional way to get rid of the odor of boars is castration, which is also called knocking pigs in many places.
Because androstenone is produced in the testicles of boars when they are sexually mature, the steroid that prevents the decomposition of fecal odor is also a kind of testosterone.
Therefore, it is a common practice in China to castrate boars when they are very young, except for keeping breeding pigs. And sows, except those with piglets, were also slaughtered when they weighed about 100 kilograms.
Well, since castration can completely solve the problem, why don’t foreign countries castrate pigs? Do they like the taste?
In fact, it cannot be generalized whether foreign countries castrate pigs or not, and the situation in each country is different.
Let’s start with why some countries don’t castrate pigs.
No one likes the smell of boars, but there are two main reasons for insisting on not castrating pigs:
First, the issue of animal welfare. Some people think that castration of boars violates ethics and harms animal welfare, so castration is prohibited, and some countries require anesthesia before castration.
In 2010, the European Union requested to stop surgical castration of boars before January 1, 2018, but this goal was not achieved.
The second is the economic benefit. After castration, the feed conversion rate of boars will decrease, which is commonly known as "slow growth", and the fat content will increase, and the meat will become fatter.
Is there any way for castrated pigs to get rid of the smell of boars? Actually, there are.
A vaccine was launched around 2010, which can chemically castrate boars.
Vaccines are used to inhibit testicular function, thereby preventing the production of androstenone and steroids.
You can’t say that this vaccine has no effect at all, but in New Zealand, where this vaccine has been applied, the content of two substances that produce odor in pork is higher than the EU level.
03
What should I do if I buy smelly pork?
Although no one likes the smell of boars, they will still buy imported pork (after all, it is cheap) or accidentally buy pork with odor.
First of all, you need to do your homework before buying.
China’s main pork importers are Germany, Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Brazil and other countries.
▲ Source: The second progress report of the European Declaration on Alternatives to Swine Surgery in 2015-2017.
Let’s talk about Europe, Spain and Britain, which have a large proportion of castrated boars, are likely to step on thunder; Some of the boars in Holland have been castrated, while more than 80% of the boars in Germany have been castrated.
In the above picture:
Red is the country that castrates less than 20% boars;
Yellow is the country where 20-80% boars are castrated;
Blue is the country where more than 80% boars are surgically castrated, but anesthesia (local/systemic) and/or long-term analgesia are used;
Green is a country that castrates more than 80% boars without anesthesia or analgesia.
In North America, the United States and Canada, there are also castrated boars, but the proportion is not so large, and there will be some restrictions on their use. It is unclear whether they will be imported to China.
▲ Import volume and proportion of major pork importing countries in China in 2018
As for Brazil, the country with the highest growth rate of China’s pork imports in the past two years, to be honest, no valid information has been seen.
If you really buy pork with bad smell, you don’t have to throw it in the trash can directly. There are still ways to save it.
The best way is to "run running water".
Wash the pork, put it in a cold water pot, fire it, and turn the fire to a minimum, so that it will almost go out.
For almost half an hour, a layer of blood foam floated on the surface, and the pork was fished out and washed with warm water. The pork treated in this way, although the skin is cooked, is still raw inside, and the odor has been removed.
In fact, to tell the truth, apart from the epidemic factors, there is nothing wrong with many imported pork except that it is not very delicious.
May we all eat more meat, eat meat well and eat good meat in the new year.
END
Wen | Wei Wei
Original title: "Imported pork has a strange smell, is it really because foreign countries kill pigs without bleeding? 》
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