Is leaner bacon on the horizon?
Beijing scientists breeding GM low-fat pigs
It’s a question on many bacon-lovers’ minds: can the pork product be part of a balanced diet? After all, a mere four slices of the stuff contain roughly 40 per cent of recommended daily values of saturated fat and sodium.
Scientists in Beijing have recently proffered an alternative question: could a low-fat pig be the answer that health conscious admirers of cured pork are looking for?
A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences announced that 12 “healthy,” low-fat pigs were engineered by the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, NPR’s The Salt reports. Their research was aimed at breeding hardier pigs that would be more economical for farmers to raise, especially during colder weather. The resulting swine have about 24 per cent less body fat than usual.
“This is a big issue for the pig industry,” Jianguo Zhao told NPR. “It’s pretty exciting.”
Zhao led the research team which used an advanced gene-editing technique called CRISPR- Cas9, the researchers created animals that could regulate their body temperature more efficiently by burning fat. The researchers chose a breed that’s renowned for the quality of its meat, Zhao said. Adding that he suspects the genetic modification process wouldn’t affect the flavour of the pork.
According to NPR, fellow researchers deem the development to be important. “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,” R. Michael Roberts, a professor who edited the paper for the journal, reportedly said.
Genetically-modified (GM) food is a contentious topic. According to Eat Right Ontario, approximately 85 GM foods have hit the market in Canada since 1994. GM salmon is one such food, which was approved for sale in Canada in 2016 with no special labelling required. An August, 2017 Angus Reid survey showed that while most Canadians have limited awareness of GMOs, they “still want more transparency,” Global News reported.
Whether or not GM lowfat bacon makes its way to consumers remains to be seen. And Roberts reportedly expressed his skepticism, adding: “I very much doubt that this particular pig will ever be imported into the USA — one thing — and secondly, whether it would ever be allowed to enter the food chain.”