Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


 OPINION 
4

'Better' Pork Carries Big Health Risks

Free-range pork may relieve your guilt, but bother your tummy

Share

(Newser) – Free-range pork sounds better for everyone involved, especially the pig. But exposure to the outdoors means exposure to dangerous pathogens, from salmonella to toxoplasmosis to the deadly parasite trichinosis, writes James McWilliams for the New York Times. "Free range is like piggy day care, a thoughtfully arranged system designed to meet the needs of consumers who despise industrial agriculture and adore the idea of wildness," the anti-locavore author argues.

Balancing humane animal treatment and consumer safety is tricky: "The natural dangers that motivated farmers to bring animals into tightly controlled settings in the first place haven’t gone away," McWilliams explains. Reverting to free-range practices is a choice, and "even if the texture conferred on pork by this choice does lead to improved tenderloin, the enhanced taste must be weighed against the increased health risks."

Workers inject vaccine into a piglet on a pig farm in Suining, in southwest China's Sichuan province, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009.
Workers inject vaccine into a piglet on a pig farm in Suining, in southwest China's Sichuan province, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009.   (AP Photo)
Free-range pigs like these may enjoy their lives, but it might not be entirely safe to eat them: these porkers are more likely to have diseases from parasites to salmonella.
Free-range pigs like these may enjoy their lives, but it might not be entirely safe to eat them: these porkers are more likely to have diseases from parasites to salmonella.   (AP Photo/Amanda Rivkin)
Traditionally farmed pigs have essentially no cases of trichinosis anymore. Among free-range pigs, cases have been found, a deadly problem.
Traditionally farmed pigs have essentially no cases of trichinosis anymore. Among free-range pigs, cases have been found, a deadly problem.   (AP Photo)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
4 comments
VIEWING:
 
kati
Apr 10, 09 9:41 AM CDT
Simple solution: go veg. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
IN RESPONSE:
Addyp
Apr 11, 09 12:56 PM CDT
QFT
Vote up! Vote down!
0
JonmarkP
Apr 10, 09 12:05 PM CDT
Why not turn them loose at Fox News, with their brothers and sisters? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
radnip
Apr 15, 09 6:37 AM CDT
For those who like wildness so much: Why're you living in town? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

4 Stories

 'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up 

USDA says small farms are becoming more popular even as large farms grow

Oct 5, 09 12:18 PM CDT
(AP) - Most evenings, Gary Mithoefer can be found at the end of a long gravel driveway off a busy highway, tending two garden plots filled with white sweet potatoes, squash, cabbages, and a dozen other vegetables still thriving in early fall. The 62-year-old, who gardens after his workday ends at his... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • farms • USDA • farmer • farm • sustainability • farmers • organic farming

OPINION

 Modern Farming Has 
 Lost Its Soul 

Family farms have a magic all their own—and can compete

Aug 23, 09 10:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - We know today’s food industry cranks out “unhealthy food, mishandles waste, and overuses antibiotics,” writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, but the heart of the matter is that today’s industrial farms have “no soul.” In a visit back to his old stomping... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • farm • food industry • Nicholas Kristof • factory farm

 Midwest Awaits
 Bumper Corn Crop

Ideal growing weather wipes out flood fears

Aug 13, 08 8:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - America's farmers are on track to deliver the second-biggest corn harvest ever despite June floods, according to the Department of Agriculture. Shortages were predicted after severe flooding swamped fields, but the Midwest has had ideal corn-growing weather since, the New York Times reports. A healthy soybean crop is also expected.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • corn • crops • harvest • farmer • farm • Department of Agriculture • corn belt • soybeans

4 Stories


Compromise between pink and tough pork
Victoria News

In Britain, the pig problem is poaching
Country Life

Did bad pork kill Mozart?
WebMD


Opinion  •  Science & Health 
TwitterFollow @NewserOpinion on Twitter

 
agriculture • parasites • farming • salmonella • pig • farm • pork • locavore • toxoplasmosis • trichinosis • free range

from our news partners