Australian bacon is not from Australian pigs


#1

Well, there you go. I thought I was eating Australian pasture raised bacon. At the same time I was worried about USA ketonians eating high PUFA bacon and messing up their metabolisms. Seems like I should be reading packet labels more carefully. This report from the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

“If it’s got a bone, it’s one of our own.”

Can bacon make us sick? And not just in the ways 20th century cardiologists have been pushing.


#2

That’s capitalism for you. Every country exports for their GDP and then imports. It’s insanity and simply a wasteful game of resources.

Is a lot of Australian pork exported?


#3

And that’s why I only buy pork, bacon, ham (etc) from my favourite local butchers and farmers’ market folks, as I know they make the smallgoods themselves from reliable and ethical piggy suppliers.


(Bob M) #4

The article says only 10% of the Australian pork is exported.

That is amazing, though, that you can’t figure out where the pork has been raised, or at least it’s a challenge to do so.


#5

I don’t believe everything I read in Carboland.

https://australianpork.com.au/market-reports

If my math is correct based on the import/export statistics. 25-30% is exported. Feel free to correct me.


#6

Not even remotely wasteful, it’s cheaper. The fact that it is… is a whole different beast.


#7

I was hoping to spark up the discussion about bacon. :bacon:

This comes from the 2 keto dudes podcast and @carl mentioning off the cuff about strategies for getting back on to the keto plan by eating bacon and eggs. It is a standard strategy.

Others might attempt to fast. Interesting that some eat back onto keto, whereas others don’t eat back into keto. That’s the versatility of the method for ya.

But what if the bacon and eggs is poor nutrition for a restart.


(Bob M) #8

I personally don’t eat bacon. I overeat it when I do. Bacon is one of those things (like nuts) where I can eat an entire meal and STILL eat a ton of it. So, I stopped eating it a while ago.

I will eat it sometimes, mainly if it’s added to a recipe.

Eggs are a different story. I don’t eat many of them, but I like them when I do. If I eat eggs, I don’t want more, unlike bacon.

I think what’s happening is that Australian pig farmers can get a higher price in Singapore/other parts of Asia, so they sell them there. Meanwhile, we (the US) “overproduce” pigs and can sell cheaper pig meat to others.

Meanwhile, I’d love to buy all my pork from Fire in a Bottle, as the pork there tastes way better than normal pork. Most pork fat is “icky” to me, but the pork fat from his pigs is not. But the size of the boxes, lack of choice for some parts (can’t get pork shoulder for instance), and cost limit the amount I buy.


(Jane) #9

Almost $17/lb for pork? WOW.


#10

It’s not cheaper after we take into account the health sick care costs. Poor quality meat leads to poor health.


#11

Totally separate issue, I don’t buy garbage meat, and I’m not forced too. Quality always costs more.


#12

Pork shoulder roast in Australia is currently $AUD14/kg and can be as high as $AUD17/kg.


#13

x 2.2 = USD $37.40/KG is AUD$51/KG :astonished:


(bulkbiker) #14

Where do you get 2.2 from ?

1 USD is 1.38 AUD

So 17 AUd is equivalent to USD 12.32


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

I believe it comes from 1 kg = 2.2 lb. So a cost per kg is 2.2 times the cost per pound.

(At least, I’m pretty sure it is.)


(bulkbiker) #16

Oops missed the pound bit…


(Bob M) #17

It is expensive, but it’s by far the best pork I’ve had.

I know Brad wants to lower the cost, but he has a lot of constraints. The mail in particular is a tough one. He also has a hard time finding “middle” processors. You can send them 1,000 pigs or 1-2, but not say 100 pigs. It’s taken him quite a while to get things up and running.

And I agree that getting things closer to what you can buy in the store will help.

But I don’t buy grass fed only beef for that reason: too expensive. But, even grain-fed beef is primarily grass fed and the PUFA and other content is similar between the two.

For pigs and chickens, they are what they eat and what their animal husbandry is. They’re different.

I buy chickens from the local farm, and they are also way more expensive than mass produced. But they also taste way, way better. Don’t know about the PUFA content, though.


(Bob M) #18

Since I’m about to sign up for my chicken CSA, the chickens are about $3/pound, but that’s the whole chicken. Average chickens are 5 pounds each, although some are smaller. That would increase the price.

Compare that with my local “fancy” store, where they have (only) drumsticks on sale:

image

Way cheaper, but not as good.


#19

I think this is the key and foundational idea. That is to eat the best quality food that one can find and afford. The offset is the appetite control that helps low carbers eat less quantity of food. It allows us to focus on food nutrition quality. But I have not done the mathematical model to prove or disprove my wish for this statement to be right.


(Bob M) #20

Here’s a competitor to Brad:

Also low PUFA pork, also $15/pound.

See their info here:

Low PUFA pork

You get a bit more choice here as to what to buy. But it appears the box sizes are about the same.