It`s now official. The fresh pork you buy in the meat case is almost one- third leaner, and therefore more healthful, than it was a decade ago.
A study of eight pork cuts, gleaned from samples taken at 68 stores in 15 metropolitan areas across the country, shows an average drop in fat content of 31 percent compared with that reported in the U.S. Department of Agriculture`s 1983 nutrient handbook.
In addition, the average number of calories dropped 17 percent and the cholesterol about 10 percent from the handbook samples, which were collected mostly before 1981, according to Dennis R. Bruege, meat specialist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who conducted the new survey.
Results of the research project were presented last week to the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association meeting in Denver. The study was sponsored by the National Pork Producers Council and the USDA, and results will be used for the 1991 edition of the ”USDA Handbook No. 8, The Composition of Foods.”
Certain lean cuts of pork tenderloin and boneless top loin chop, when trimmed of fat and roasted or broiled, compare nicely with lean cuts of beef and chicken, said Johanna Dwyer, R.D., director of the Frances Stern Nutrition Center at the New England Medical Center Hospitals in Boston. Dwyer was one of several nutritionists who reviewed the report.
A 3-ounce portion of trimmed, roasted pork tenderloin (the leanest cut)
comes in at about 133 calories, 4 grams of fat and about 67 milligrams of cholesterol, she told ADA members. That compares with 140 calories, 3 grams of fat and 72 milligrams of cholesterol for a 3-ounce portion of skinless chicken breast. Both can fit in with the type of diet recommended by the American Heart Association and National Cholesterol Education program.
”We`re not talking about pork slathered in butter or fatty cuts like ribs and bacon,” Dwyer said, emphasizing that she cautions her patients on low-fat diets to limit their consumption to 3 ounces, to trim off all visible fat and to roast or grill the pork rather than fry it in oil.
The leaner pork has come about because of consumer pressure for less-fatty meat, resulting in the breeding of leaner hogs that are fed with more nutrient-dense feed, said John Hardin, president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council and a Danville, Ind., hog farmer.
There are some advantages to the farmer, he said. Leanness is a trait that is very heritable in hogs, he said.
”It takes 2 1/4 times as much feed to make a pound of fat (on a hog) as it does to make a pound of lean,” he said.
The study is the first nationwide analysis of pork composition since 1980 when the USDA examined cuts taken from whole hog carcasses. Bruege`s study selected cuts from meat cases in New York, Baltimore, Boston, Atlanta, Tampa, New Orleans, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Dallas, St. Louis, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and Phoenix.
FAT, CHOLESTEROL AND CALORIC CONTENT OF LEAN PORK CUTS Pork cut Fat (grams) Cholesterol Calories
(3 ounces) U.of W. Hndbk U.of W. Hndbk U.of W. Hndbk
Blade steaks 10.6 15.6 80 89 187 233
Country
style ribs 12.6 16.4 79 76 203 237
Rib chops 8.5 12.7 69 80 179 219
Boneless rib
roasts 8.6 + 71 + 175 +
Loin chops 6.9 8.9 70 83 165 196
Boneless loin
chops 6.6 12.7 68 80 165 219
Boneless loin
roasts 6.4 11.7 66 67 160 208
Sirloin roasts 8.8 11.2 73 77 177 208
Boneless
sirloin chops 5.7 + 78 + 156 +
Tenderloin 4.1 4.1 67 79 133 141
Average
change -31% -10% -17%
