Posted on 10/24/2017 1:24:17 PM PDT by Red Badger
For people who love bacon but hate everything it does to their diet, scientists in China may have created a way to have your pig and eat it too. A team of researchers have genetically altered pigs to carry nearly 24 percent less body fat.
Using the CRISPR-Cas 9 gene editing technique, the team reportedly modified a group of pigs which gave birth to much leaner piglets. The experiment, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is looking to make pigs less susceptible to the cold. Scientists noted that modern pigs, especially younger ones, lack the ability to deal with colder temperatures and build up unhealthy levels of fat. The researchers added that the change could create a huge savings for the pig farming industry.
Jianguo Zhoa, one of the Chinese scientists leading the research, added that he doubts the taste of the genetically modified pigs would be any different from normal ones.
Chinese scientists have created low-fat pigs with #CRISPR. They stay warmer and are cheaper to care for. Via @NPR https://t.co/Re6GNuaYGZ pic.twitter.com/urcMhq1z9j
— RealClearScience (@RCScience) October 24, 2017
The weakness in regular pigs stems from the animal’s lack of the UPC1 gene, which regulates body temperature and is found in most other animals. The experiment added a version of the gene to the embryos of the group of pigs. Their offspring, 12 male piglets, all reportedly had much better tolerance for the cold than their parents did.
“It demonstrates a way that you can improve the welfare of animals at the same as also improving the product from those animals — the meat,” University of Missouri professor R. Michael Roberts told NPR. Although the genetic breakthrough may eventually mean leaner bacon in China, Roberts added that FDA regulations in the U.S. will likely keep the pigs out of America for the moment.
Every story about us engineering soldiers to fight without food and water or run faster and bleed less speaks to the end getting closer. All we need is fake food manufactured in a petri dishes to change our DNA. The unforeseen mutations are the ones that always get ya. They already grow pigs with human hearts. Does that mean we are cannibals now?
Hospitals and other institutions love lean pork. Dietitians make the menus and they love high protein with low fat. Pork tenderloin in a fruity glaze kind of thing. People who aren’t stuck in the hospital or in an institution don’t like it so much.
I see loin chops at Costco without a speck of intramuscular fat. People who eat this crap won’t live longer, it will just seem longer.
My current project is learning to roast pork shank or pork knuckle. It’s got everything you could want. Skin, fat, connective tissue, meat and bone. The Germans get the outside crackling golden brown and hard and crunchy. The plentiful fat bastes the meat as it slow roasts. Pork for life!
Pass. Low fat is a scam. Low fat is UNHEALTHY. Sugar is the ultimate enemy of eating healthy.
High fat diets REDUCE cholesterol. High fat diets NORMALIZE blood pressure.
Bring back the fat!
If only my wife would buy that....................
I hadn’t tried pork shank but I often cook lamb shank in a crock pot. I’ll have to look for it locally.
Some of the best pork I’ve had recently was Alentejana pork in Portugal. It has great marbling and a very rich flavor. Acorns make up a big chunk of their diet.
I’m making cheesy cream of potato soup right now. I am going to go grab some bacon to fry so I can sprinkle it on top later.
Imagine:
Guilt Free Bacon!.................
Tha’s my saying... Fat is where the flavors at!
long pork?
Sounds nice.
Iberico pork gets its flavor from acorns. I get a cured chorizo made from this stuff from a local Spanish deli. It tastes like salami from heaven.
Pork shank is hard to come by in the US. I just paid $10 a pound from a high-end meat boutique. I can probably get a better deal at some local mercado.
I think pork shank mostly ends up in Jimmy Dean.
A strip of cooked bacon is only 44 calories. Just eat 2 and not 17.
ala Donner!................
They was thin................
New low fat pigs? It’s JFK all over again.
I don’t feel any guilt while eating it ;)
Now, with MORE melamine!
(Let's see if the mutation makes the pigs better reservoirs for fatal high path avian flu virions.)
That's why you drizzle garlic butter over filet mignon or cook it wrapped in bacon, while rib eyes require no such treatment: fat.
drooling on my keyboard now...
Always on sale and very little waste.
They can be tasty but it's best to cook them hot and fast (roasted, rotisseried, or grilled over charcoal,) and remove them from the heat at 140F, reaching 145 with the carry-over. Any hotter and they dry out because they are so lean.
We cut them into tender, juicy 1/2 inch slices and drizzle them with gravy. They're also good in sandwiches.
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