Pork & Logic

GROAN

The Torah talks about why Swine is forbidden to eat, although it makes an exception from the rule that animals with cloven hoof (as swine have) are kosher. The explanation is that the swine, unlike the cow for instance does not 'chew the cud' (Deuteronomy) i.e. does not regurgitate the food. Does anybody know the significance of chewing the cud; does it perhaps reduce the amount of toxins absorbed by the body? ! hmm

Bigmo

The Torah talks about why Swine is forbidden to eat, although it makes an exception from the rule that animals with cloven hoof (as swine have) are kosher. The explanation is that the swine, unlike the cow for instance does not 'chew the cud' (Deuteronomy) i.e. does not regurgitate the food. Does anybody know the significance of chewing the cud; does it perhaps reduce the amount of toxins absorbed by the body? ! hmm

Eating pork is something of a mystery. Its one of the prohibitions I have not figured out. But what is interesting is that the Gospel did not emphasize that but the Koran did. One person once told me that Pork needs higher temperatures to cook than other meats.

Its myoglobin content is lower than that of beef, but much higher than that of chicken. The USDA treats pork as a red meat. Pork is very high in thiamin (vitamin B1). Pork with its fat trimmed is leaner than the meat of most domesticated animals, but is still high in cholesterol and saturated fat.

In 1987 the U.S. National Pork Board began an advertising campaign to position pork as "the other white meat" ? due to a public perception of chicken and turkey (white meat) as healthier than red meat. The campaign was highly successful and resulted in 87% of consumers identifying pork with the slogan. The board retired the slogan on March 4, 2011.

Undercooked or untreated pork may harbour pathogens, or it can be recontaminated after cooking. In one instance, the FSIS detected Listeria monocytogenes in 460 lbs of Polidori brand fully cooked pork sausage crumbles. The FSIS has previously stated Listeria and other microorganisms will be "destroyed by proper handling and thorough cooking to an internal temperature of 160 ?F (71 ?C)" and that other microorganisms, such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus can be found in inadequately cooked pork, poultry, and other meats. The FSIS currently recommends cooking ground pork to 160 ?F (71 ?C) and whole cuts to 145 ?F (63 ?C) followed by a 3 minute rest.

The pig is the carrier of various helminths, such as roundworms, pinworms, hookworms, etc. One of the most dangerous and common is Taenia solium, a type of tapeworm. Tapeworms may transplant to the intestines of humans, as well, when they consume untreated or undercooked meat from pigs or other animals. If the infection is not treated, it can be fatal.

Although not a common cause of illness, Yersinia enterocolitica ? which causes gastroenteritis ? is present in various foods, but is most frequently caused by eating pork and can grow in refrigerated conditions. The bacteria can be killed by heat. Nearly all outbreaks in the US have been traced to pork.

Pork may be the reservoir responsible for sporadic, locally acquired cases of acute hepatitis E (HEV) reported in regions with relatively mild climates. It has been found to transmit between swine and humans.

Vacuum packed pork loin filletsTrichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. Infection was once very common, but is now rare in the developed world. From 2002 to 2007, an annual average of 11 cases per year were reported in the United States; the majority were from consuming wild game or the source was unknown. The number of cases has decreased because of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw meat garbage to hogs, increased commercial and home freezing of pork, and the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork or wild game products.

Religious restrictions on the consumption of porkMain article Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork
JudaismPig's meat, including pork, is one of the most well known examples of non kosher food. This prohibition is based on Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14

Leviticus 112-4, 7-8

"These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the animals that are upon the land. Everything that possesses a split hoof, which is fully cloven, and that brings up its cud -- this you may eat. But this is what you shall not eat from what brings up its cud or possesses split hooves - the camel, because it brings up its cud but does not possess split hooves...and the pig, because it has split hooves that are completely cloven, but it does not bring up its cud -- it is impure to you and from its flesh you may not eat."
Deuteronomy 148

"And the pig, because it possesses split hooves and does not bring up its cud -- from its flesh you may not eat."
As indicated by the biblical verses, Jews may not consume any land animal that does not possess both traits.

The animal must possess completely split hooves;
The animal must bring up its cud.

IslamPork is prohibited by the Islamic dietary laws. Throughout the Islamic world many countries severely restrict the importation or consumption of pork products. Examples are Iran, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan and Maldives (though conversely, the pig is the most widely reared livestock in Muslim-majority Malaysia). The Qur'anic basis for the Islamic prohibition of pork can be found in suras 2173, 53, 560, 6145 and 16115.

Chapter (Sura) 2 - Verse (Ayat) 173 Al-Baqara (The Cow)

"He has forbidden you only the Maitah (dead animals), and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than God (or has been slaughtered for idols). But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then there is no sin on him. Truly, God is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful."

Other religions and culturesSeventh-day Adventists, Rastafarians, and members of the Ethiopian Orthodox church also do not eat pork. Scottish pork taboo was Donald Alexander Mackenzie's phrase for discussing an aversion to pork amongst Scots, particularly Highlanders, which he believed stemmed from an ancient taboo. Several writers who confirm that there was a prejudice against pork, or a superstitious attitude toward pigs, do not see it in terms of a taboo related to an ancient cult. Any prejudice is generally agreed to have disappeared by 1800.

Pork meat and cannibalismDuring an interview in 2007, the notorious German cannibal Armin Meiwes said, "The flesh tastes like pork, a little bit more bitter, stronger. It tastes quite good."

About 3% of piglet mortality is related to cannibalism. This brings up the danger of prion development when eating pork. This chance already is slightly increased because of the high tissue similarity of pork and human.

Disease in porkPork, usually if undercooked, is also known to carry some life-threatening diseases such as pork tapeworm and trichinosis. Scholars recently have suggested that some of the stigma placed on pork by Islam and Judaism might stem, in part, from ancient times when pork would be the carrier of disease

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork

It could be for health reasons. Maybe.

Samia

The Qur'an says to eat animals that feed on plants

Are you sure? confused
Then chicken must be haram because they dig up worms from the ground. And fish eat each other and even human flesh.

GROAN

Here's an article from the Guardian on the taste of human flesh voodoo eat wow

""What does human meat taste like?After a hoax in which a German restaurant appeared willing to serve spare body parts as gourmet meals, I tackle the burning question of the day what does human flesh taste like?
Recent reports suggested that a German restaurant was looking for diners willing to donate body parts that it said it would turn into gourmet meals - that annoying spare finger or testicle that you've been lugging around all these years, for example. Although exposed this week as a publicity stunt, many people (well, me) are curious to know what human would actually taste like. So in the spirit of public service, I tried to find out.

One company supposedly started selling a "Healthy Human Flesh Alternative" based on Tofu - Hufu - back in 2005. They described the taste of their dubious product as follows "If you've never had human flesh before, think of the taste and texture of beef, except a little sweeter in taste and a little softer in texture. Contrary to popular belief, people do not taste like pork or chicken."

Unfortunately it turned out to be a spoof, so "sweet soft beef" is a dubious claim at best, and it certainly flies in the face of the overwhelming "pork" consensus that appears from a Google search on the subject. If we want to get the true flavour of cannibalism, we need to find out from people who have actually tasted human flesh.

Of course, there is one form of human meat that's considered just about acceptable to eat. Many people choose to eat the placenta after childbirth, a practice known as "placentophagy". To prepare it, you need to remove the umbilical cord and membrane, and then treat it in a similar fashion to liver, which according to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is roughly what the result tastes like. You can chop it up and fry it, or mince it to make quite a rich Bolognese. That's all very lovely, as you can see from the video below, but like the liver the placenta probably isn't that representative of the general taste of human flesh.

Watch a man cooking his wife's placenta. Or don't. Similarly unhelpful is the opinion of a cute little robot developed by NEC System technologies and Mie University. The "electromechanical sommelier", is "capable of identifying wines, cheeses, meats and hors d'oeuvres." On tasting the hands of human reporters, it identified one as bacon and another as prosciutto. We're homing in on pork again here, but unfortunately the reporters didn't bother to skin and cook their hands before placing them in the robot's jaws.

What we need are some proper cannibals, and where better to start than one of Germany's most infamous citizens, the cannibal Armin Meiwes. Having eaten an estimated 20kg of his victim, Meiwes is something of an expert on the subject, and in an interview from his prison cell he was more than happy to explain the taste "The flesh tastes like pork, a little bit more bitter, stronger. It tastes quite good."

Does his opinion tally with the experiences of other Western cannibals? After a bit more searching I found the case of William Buehler Seabrook, a journalist with the New York Times who traveled extensively in West Africa nearly a century ago. Fascinated with the concept of cannibalism, he persuaded a medical intern at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris) to give him a chunk of human meat from the body of a healthy man killed in an accident, which he cooked and ate, describing is as follows

"It was like good, fully developed veal, not young, but not yet beef. It was very definitely like that, and it was not like any other meat I had ever tasted. It was so nearly like good, fully developed veal that I think no person with a palate of ordinary, normal sensitiveness could distinguish it from veal. It was mild, good meat with no other sharply defined or highly characteristic taste such as for instance, goat, high game, and pork have."

So we have one for pork, one for veal. Clearly a sample size of two isn't enough - we need more people. And here's where we descend into the really grim part it turns out that many people may have eaten human flesh unintentionally.

I'll start with infamous Pole Karl Denke, "a devout, peaceful, generally respected citizen of Zibice" who "turned out to be a cannibal who killed 40 people before his arrest (and immediate suicide) in 1924. He pickled their flesh in jars and sold it on the Wrocaw market as 'pork'."

The same tactic was allegedly employed by Fritz Haarmann, a German who killed at least 24 people in Hanover, generally male prostitutes whose throats he bit while sodomising them (yes, I've been trying to work that one out too). Rumours suggest he too sold his victims as pork on the black market, before his execution by beheading in 1925.

Another German serial killer, Karl Grossman was arrested in 1921 having enthusiastically murdered his way through the Great War. Grossman (no relation) sold the meat from the estimated 50 women he killed on the black market, and even ran a hot dog stand where he offloaded the flesh, throwing the inedible remnants in a nearby river.

Ultimately, without actually eating some of the stuff ourselves, all we have are the subjective evaluations of a collection of murderers who may not be the most reliable of witnesses. But there is a certain consistency here - certainly the cannibals themselves seem to have generally considered it closer to pork, and indeed close enough that they were happy to label it as such when selling it to unfortunate members of the public through the meat markets and hot dog stands of 1920s Germany and Poland.

So unless somebody has any further evidence, the official opinion of this blog is that human flesh tastes a bit like pork. Of course, to paraphrase Eddie Izzard, that means that pork tastes of human. & tempt

huruf

Are you sure? confused
Then chicken must be haram because they dig up worms from the ground. And fish eat each other and even human flesh.

four legged animals

See 5.1 Sahih International O you who have believed, fulfill contracts. Lawful for you are the animals of grazing livestock except for that which is recited to you - hunting not being permitted while you are in the state of i?ram. Indeed, Allah ordains what He intends.

Salaam

Samia

four legged animals

See 5.1 Sahih International O you who have believed, fulfill contracts. Lawful for you are the animals of grazing livestock except for that which is recited to you - hunting not being permitted while you are in the state of i?ram. Indeed, Allah ordains what He intends.

Salaam

This verse speaks about what is allowed during the restricted months. During these months hunting is not allowed, so they can only eat tamed animals without violating the restricted months rule. Apart from the restricted months, this verse applies

Say "I find not in the message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be dead meat, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine,- for it is an abomination - or, what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than Allah's". But (even so), if a person is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- thy Lord is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (6145)

huruf