Polish researchers say they have used innovative feeding and packaging methods to develop a lower fat, lower calorie pork meat that retains its quality and flavor for longer.
The BIOZYWNOSC project’s “functional pork” is a collaboration between the Department of Human Nutrition and Consumer of Warsaw University of Life Sciences and the Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding Polish Academy of Sciences.
The researchers say their pork, containing less salt and saturated fat than standard pork products, is good for the heart and will not trigger allergic reactions.
“Our pork products have a reduced calorific content, a reduced fat content, an optimized amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, a higher concentration of minerals, an increased protein content, reduced allergenicity, they do not contain poly-phosphates, and have extended shelf life,” the head of the Independent Department of Technology in Nutrition from Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Agnieszka Wierzbicka, said.
The improved pork relies on a packaging method which uses a special gas to preserve the meat in airtight packaging, increasing shelf life by about 60 per cent and locking in nutritional value. Production methods ensure that the water is already better bound to the meat on a cellular level, preventing bacteria from spreading.
But Wierzbicka added that taste had not been sacrificed for long shelf life.
“Pork produced within our project has an increased protein content, so it is more springy, more supple, the taste is more natural, deeper. It requires fewer spices, smaller amounts of additives or salt because there are no aftertastes. It is clean and natural with deep taste and light, fresh aroma,” she said.
And she says that improved taste is down to an animal feed based on grain, flax seeds, polyunsaturated fatty acids derived from linseed oil and vitamin E. The researchers ensured the pig feed is balanced in terms of carbohydrates, fats and proteins according to the age of the pigs, leaving out additives, chemicals and soy protein concentrates often found in commercial alternatives.
The attention to detail is all about producing the tastiest pork and is confident consumers will enjoy the porcine delights, according to Wierzbicka’s colleagues at the Waraw University of Life Sciences.
“Consumers most of all follow the pleasure. Food was, is and always will be part of hedonism. So we have to work on these kinds of products which on the one hand meet sensory requirements, and on other hand meet other consumer requirements, like the health issue, which is the new mega-trend,” said Professor Krystyna Gutkowska.
The Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding says the high quality pork products will play an important part in improving people’s diets.
“Using these products in a normal, daily diet will have a high added value and can be an important element of the prevention of diet-related diseases,” explained Jaroslaw Horbanczuk, the head of the BIOZYWNOSC project
Pork is a popular meat for consumers worldwide, he added.
“Pork is still a very important part of the human diet. In Europe the highest consumption of pork is in Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain and also in Poland. If we talk about China, the consumption of pork is more than 60 percent of the total meat consumption. So these are large markets and large demand,” said Horbanczuk.
The researchers say they are aiming for the premium pork market and they are now looking at production on a commercial scale after receiving international recognition for their work at Innova, the World Exhibition on Inventions, Research and New Technologies, in Brussels.
The scientists want to make the technology available to all farmers and the meat industry in the European Union, meaning that that high-quality, low-fat pork may soon appear on a shelf near you.