Dr. Atkins meets Porky Pig
 

A short article in the local paper over here.




Pig's tale
Dr. Atkins meets Porky Pig



August 23, 2003

Who would have thought the road to skinny runs through Smithfield?

Like, pork means porker, right?

Not right. The increasing popularity of low-carbohydrate diets - Atkins, South Beach - puts Smithfield's favorite foods front and center. Pork can be very, very good for you.

So long as you limit your sugar intake, that is.

That's the core idea behind the trendsetting Atkins diet. No longer dismissed as faddish, Atkins has become so popular among the full-figured set (and plenty of others, too, who like to eat but don't like to gain) that it's beginning to affect the overall food industry.

Egg, red meat and fish sales are picking up. Producers of sugar-laden products - cereals, bread, pasta, soft drinks - have begun offering low-carb alternatives. Anheuser-Busch is even out there with Michelob ULTRA, a low-carb beer with already promising sales.

Smithfield's meat gurus are way out front, though. A "Lean Generation" of products take the already low-fat pork a step further in the right direction with calorie and cholesterol counts below chicken breasts.

You can thank science for that - or "National Pig Development," to be specific. Really. This British program - NPD for short - came up with a genetically superior strain of pig that yields meat that's leaner and better.

Of course, they had to get the pigs over here to establish a U.S. herd. So, believe it or not, Smithfield Foods loaded 200 of them onto a Boeing 747 (free earphones for everyone) and flew them to the New World.

It's a story with a happy ending (assuming you're not a pig), because Smithfield Foods sold 104 million pounds of "Lean Generation" pork last year.

And thanks to the rush to low-carb diets (two-thirds of the American population is overweight), Smithfield may well emerge with newfound (and more than a little ironic)

fame, as the path to narrower waistlines.

Hmmm..I wonder if that means that their "Lean Generation" pork is also going to be as dry and tasteless as boneless, skinless chicken breats? That's the one thing I don't appreciate in a lot of today's pork products..they're dry, tough and not nearly as flavorful as they used to be. Helooooo...it's not the fat we low carbers are cutting...it's the sugar and carbs (last time I checked, pork doesn't contain either, even the old-fashioned kind).
As for myself, when I buy pork meat, it's likely to be a pork roast with as much fat on it as I can find (like a pork shoulder roast).

Yes the lean pork being sold is now being INFUSED with a 20% solution of water/sugar/spices. So you are paying meat prices for water&sugar. They used to close down butcher shops for that.

OK not every pack of meat-but read the labels.

I like the "high fat" pork upon which I was raised. The flavor and texture comes from the fat. Fat is good. :doah:

Lisa, you're right - all that neurotic phobia about fat is forcing people to eat drier, flavorless meat than they should. Fran McCulloch talks about brining pork, to get some moisture in it. Shouldn't have to do that.

See our lo-carb success story titled "Low Carb Grass Farmers". Our initial success was with meat from old style hogs grown to larger than typical commercial weights. Sure alot tastier and NOT cardboard dry. Fat ain't the problem-Its the solution!

I've seen this sentiment in more than one article, but I wonder if it's really true? Have meat sales increased in recent years? If so, can that really be tied to Atkins' popularity? This seems like a "factoid" to me, like the ever-popular "birth rates increase 9 months after a blackout/national disaster" one that makes the rounds in the news occasionally. (Not statistically true, BTW.)

It doesn't matter, but I would like to know the facts. "Collecting" urban legends has been an interest of mine for several years. I wonder if this is one of the first ULs among the low-carb set. :)