CHAPTER X 



PORK 



Pork as a food. — Pork has been in our dietary for many 

 centuries. It is one of our standard meat foods. It has 

 its advantages and disadvantages in comparison with 

 other meats. It is fatter than most meats, which under 

 some conditions would be considered a disadvantage. 

 On the other hand, there is a larger proportion of meat 

 to bone in pork than in either beef or mutton. Likewise, 

 the percentage of water in pork is lower than in these 

 other two meats and the energy content per pound is 

 greater, which are advantages not easily overcome. The 

 fact that in this country we annually produce and con- 

 sume nearly $1,000,000,000 worth of pork and pork prod- 

 ucts shows the extensiveness of its use as a food. 



Composition of pork. — As a food pork may be con- 

 sidered as composed of two materials, the edible part 

 and the non-edible or waste. The non-edible part con- 

 sists of such refuse as skin, bone and gristle. The amount 

 of waste in a piece of pork is dependent upon the cut 

 from which it comes. The waste in pork chops will run 

 from 12 to 24 per cent, while for ham it will run from 

 8 to 14 per cent. The edible portion is the portion in 

 which we are primarily interested. This is made up 

 of water, fat, protein and ash. All meats contain some 

 water. Dry salt pork contains a minimum and may have 

 as little as 4 per cent of water. On the other hand, fresh 

 pork may contain as high as 60 per cent moisture. The 

 fat is likewise variable, and pork may contain all the way 



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